The Boat — Peter’s Testimony

I owned a little boat a while ago,
And sailed the morning sea without a fear,
And whither any breeze might fairly blow
I steered my little craft afar or near.
Mine was the boat
And mine the air,
And mine the sea,
Nor mine a care.

My boat became my place of mighty toil,
I sailed at evening to the fishing ground,
At morn my boat was freighted with the spoil
Which my all-conquering work had found.
Mine was the boat
And mine the net,
And mine the skill
And power to get.

One day there came along that silent shore,
While I my net was casting in the sea,
A man who spoke as never man before;
I followed Him; new life began in me.
Mine was the boat,
But His the voice,
And His the call,
Yet mine the choice.

Ah!’twas a fearful night out on the lake,
And all my skill availed not, at the helm,
Till Him asleep I waked, crying, “Take
Thou the helm–lest water overwhelm!”
And His the boat,
And His the sea,
And His the peace
O’er all and me.

Once from the boat he taught the curious throng
Then bade me cast my net into the sea;
I murmured but obeyed, Nor was it long
Before the catch amazed and humbled me.
His was the boat,
And His the skill.
And His the catch,
And His my will.

George MacDonald

About the Author
“George MacDonald (1824-1905) was a Scottish novelist and poet. Born in West Aberdeenshire, he attended Aberdeen University and eventually became a Congregationalist pastor at Arundel. Rejected by his audiences as lacking dogmatic fervor, he soon gave up his pastorship and turned to writing, producing some 50 volumes. The climate of Italy, where he lived for a while with his six sons and five daughters, favored his frail health.”

Dogmatic to Diplomat — Ben Franklin’s Journey

By Dale Carnegie, excerpted from his book How to Win Friends and Influence People.

One day, when Ben Franklin was a blundering youth, an old Quaker friend took him aside and lashed him with a few stinging truths, something like this: Ben, you are impossible. Your opinions have a slap in them for everyone who differs with you. They have become so offensive that nobody cares for them. Your friends find they enjoy themselves better when you are not around. You know so much that no man can tell you anything. Indeed, no man is going to try, for the effort would lead only to discomfort and hard work. So you are not likely ever to know any more than you do now, which is very little.

One of the finest things I know about Ben Franklin is the way he accepted that smarting rebuke. He was big enough and wise enough to realize that it was true, to sense that he was headed for failure and social disaster. So he made a right-about-face. He began immediately to change his insolent, opinionated ways.

“I made it a rule,” said Franklin, “to forbear all direct contradiction to the sentiment of others, and all positive assertion of my own, I even forbade myself the use of every word or expression in the language that imported a fix’d opinion, such as ‘certainly,’ ‘undoubtedly,’ etc., and I adopted, instead of them, ‘I conceive,’ ‘I apprehend,’ or ‘I imagine’ a thing to be so or so, or ‘it so appears to me at present.’

When another asserted something that I thought an error, I deny’d myself the pleasure of contradicting him abruptly, and of showing immediately some absurdity in his proposition: and in answering I began by observing that in certain cases or circumstances his opinion would be right, but in the present case there appear’d or seem’d to me some difference, etc. I soon found the advantage of this change in my manner; the conversations I engag’d in went on more pleasantly. The modest way in which I propos’d my opinions procur’d them a readier reception and less contradiction; I had less mortification when I was found to be in the wrong, and I more easily prevaile’d with others to give up their mistakes and join with me when I happened to be in the right.

“And this mode, which I at first put on with some violence to natural inclination, became at length so easy, and so habitual to me, that perhaps for these fifty years past no one has ever heard a dogmatical expression escape me. And to this habit (after my character of integrity) I think it principally owing that I had earned so much weight with my fellow citizens when I proposed new institutions, or alterations in the old, and so much influence in public councils when I became a member; for I was but a bad speaker, never eloquent, subject to much hesitation in my choice of words, hardly correct in language, and yet I generally carried my points.”

Abigail’s Speech – Template for Persuasion

Abigail’s speech stopped an army, averted murder, and resulted in marriage. From the transcript, 1) Abigail accepts responsibility that is not hers, 2) showcases her familiarity with David’s motives and circumstances, and 3) correctly uses emotional prediction to persuade David not to murder the men of Nabal’s house. Abigail showed her mettle as a wise woman and a meek and true leader. Tailoring her words to David’s future as prophesied by Samuel, she said,

And it shall come to pass, when the LORD shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel; That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself….

If Abigail had defended herself, while distancing herself from Nabal’s perversity, David might have kept his angry path. How many times have I used a fleeting and pivotal moment to defend myself, proclaiming my own goodness (Pro 20:6), rather than seeking to understand/encourage/persuade/influence another. Abigail’s example inspires!

I’d Rather be a Christian

As I grew up, our family fellowshipped with a variety of groups including non-denominational, Baptist, Seventh Day Adventist, and home church groups. Each group focused on a favorite subset of Biblical truth. Each group would identify with their focus truth. For example, the name Seventh Day Adventist means a person who observes the sabbath of the Bible, and anticipates Christ’s second coming or Advent. A Baptist, on the other hand, adheres to believer’s baptism, rather than infant baptism.

True, the Bible promises Christ’s return and teaches the seventh day sabbath and believer’s baptism. Yet, which is greater, to identify with a particular truth, or in Jesus, the Truth Incarnate? To identify with a particular teaching, or with the Teacher himself?

Paul chided the believers in Corinth saying, “every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.” In Paul’s day, you might identify with Paul, Apollos, Peter, or Christ. Today, we may add Luther, Piper, Spurgeon, Calvin, and others. Almost two thousand years later, there are at least as many more good men and movements with which to align. I could label myself a Baptist, or Seventh Day Adventist, or Methodist, or Lutheran; each of those labels are packed with meaning and rich history. Yet, in two thousand years, I find no label to eclipse, replace, or refine the “Christian” label. Like many things of value, its virtue has been maligned, its meaning counterfeit, and its reputation borrowed, yet its value unmatched.

I want to be a Christian in the sense in which the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch where a Christian is someone who believed Christ, lived for Him, and would die for Him.

Start a Conversation with a Stupid Question

“And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?” (Luke 24:17)

Have you ever wanted to start a conversation but didn’t want to look ridiculous or stupid? I know I have.

On the road to Emmaus, Jesus started the conversation with a ridiculous sounding question. It prompted Cleopas to ask, “Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?” Jesus followed up with, “What things?”. If Jesus can ask ridiculous questions to start a conversation, so can we!

God’s Keys: the Privilege of Infirmity

“And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9)

No doubt, his parents waited expectantly for their baby’s first sign of sight. At a month, a baby usually can focus on your face, and within six to eight months he can see the world almost as well as you. Probably his parents were still waiting after a month and hoping after eight months. But by and by, coping must have replaced hoping. This baby would never laugh at his mother’s smile. This boy would never play with friends. This adolescent would enter adulthood blind to the brilliance of a sunrise or the entrancing gaze of a sweetheart.

He is introduced in the narrative when Jesus saw him, a man blind from birth. The disciples asked, “Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus said no one had sinned “but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” Did you get that? God withheld sight from this baby, this boy, this man, until adulthood so He could give it back in a personal and extraordinary way. God withheld sight to get glory.

This man might have lived and died an ordinary life, instead God made him a case study, a demonstration to the world of His almighty healing power. To this man, personal fringe benefits included having his story published in the pages of scripture, personal contacts with Jesus (at least two), and the gift of belief in Jesus. Yet, these benefits are only fringe compared to the purpose that Christ mentioned, “that the works of God should be made manifest in him” This man was privileged to be a key in God’s hand. A key that would authenticate the Almighty Himself into the hearts of men. In this case, God kept the gift of sight for 40 years, or until adulthood, in order to give it. For His own glory, God kept to give.

If God can glorify himself by keeping to give, He can also glorify Himself by giving to take. With his “thorn in the flesh”, Paul the Apostle must have had a weakness or condition which he asked God three times to take away. He received this final answer, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” God is one of those who already has everything. Yet God just told Paul “…my strength is made perfect in weakness”, as if God needs our weakness to perfect his own strength.

Job was a man who had much, and lost much. From the depths of his loss, he said “the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” The next verse says, ” In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.” Paul said, upon receiving his final answer, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Which is better, to live and die an ordinary and trouble-free life? or, in weakness and adversity, to perfect God’s own incalculable strength, to be a key giving God access to the locked heart of mankind?

Why Do You Go to Church?

Some go to church to take a walk, some go there to laugh and talk,
Some go there to meet a friend, some go there their time to spend,
Some go there to meet a lover, some go there a fault to cover,
Some go there for speculation, some go there for observation,
Some go there to doze and nod— the good go there to Worship GOD
The New Zealand Evangelist, Vol. 2, no. 13 (1 July 1849) Why Do You Go
to Church? — by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Of the reasons in this list, some are interesting; some are good. To meet a lover is a good reason. After all, what is a better place than church? Of all these rhyming reasons, it is the final reason, to worship God, which echoes in the silence. To worship God represents our Christian intuition. To worship God is the duty and privilege to which our collective conscience binds us.

Yet, to worship God is not the reason of scripture. There is one reason, and only one reason, which bears mention in the pages of scripture. The reason of scripture did not make the list. In Hebrews 10 it is written: …let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

It has been said, “When I attend church I get nothing from it. I feel closer to God in the forest or the desert”. True perhaps, but a feeling of closeness to God is no prerequisite. The passage commands our meeting for mutual exhorting and provoking, an entirely horizontal purpose between man and man. From the passage, the purpose is to give and not only get, to participate and not only observe, to serve and not only feel.

While we laugh, talk, love, and worship God, let us remember the command of scripture, to “consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works…exhorting one another”. Let each of us move from casual observer to intentional participant.