Preface: I take the time to do the surveys fairly often....maybe you do not....but if the salesperson on the phone was helpful and asks me if I would stay on the line for a short survey.....I'll do it. You know what these surveys are like...."on a scale of one to ten....?" Well I'm going to make that scale a little bit bigger....in fact a lot bigger. On a scale of one to one-trillion....how would you rate the greatness of your salvation? Now one-trillion in numerals is....1,000,000,000,000. So....on that scale....how would you rate your salvation? How would you rate the majesty of God? Now there's a little problem with surveys like this as I am usually pretty generous with my answers to phone surveys. Someone has to mess up pretty big before I don't give their effort a ten. So it would be a little too easy for someone to say.....'Oh yeah....I rate my salvation at one trillion!' Only you know the real answer. So....take some time to think it over....and answer that question to yourself. Here's a tougher question....'on a scale of one to one-trillion....how excited are you about your salvation?" Hmm....that's a real tough one to fudge....because to say....one-trillion....and then to go back to our life where it's obvious that we are not really that excited at all about our salvation....and about a hundred times more excited about our favorite team. Oh well....this might be a valuable little exercise.
It was about forty years ago....maybe a year or two less than that....after a worship service one Lord's Day in an Assemblies of God Church.....with the pastor's permission....I handed out one-hundred copies of Charles Finney's.....classic....unfortunately classic....How To Experience Revival. I obviously did not realize at the time that Finney's methods were not biblical....and much of the doctrine that he taught was outright heretical.
About a decade later I ordered and then over the period of a couple years passed out....at shopping centers and laundromats....anywhere I could find people with some time on their hands....one-thousand copies of Charles Spurgeon's wonderful paperback classic....All Of Grace. At another time I handed out one-hundred paperback copies of the American Standard Version of God's Word.
If you consider Pilgrim's Progress and Josh McDowell's Evidence That Demands A Verdict and study bibles and Christian books that I had read and wanted share....usually writing inside the cover....please just pass this around when you are finished....there has probably been nearing two-thousand books that I placed in the hands of another person. I guess you could add nearly one-thousand pens that I ordered over the years....(I have a new shipment of 135 coming in soon)....with the imprint of this website....that I leave with the tip at restaurants....and really anywhere that I can put a pen into someone's hand.
Thirty years ago I tried writing a monthly newsletter....and make about 125 copies....and sent them out to people that I know. On occasion....in order to teach our son that we should care for the eternal salvation of others....we would craft a letter and send it along with a book to a celebrity. Mario Lemieux received a study bible....and Michael Landon in his last days a very good book....of which we received a nice reply from his office. I've posted this anecdote before. It was on a vacation on Hilton Head Island...I was going down to the pool and had a plan.....I would just lay out a book next to me to see if someone saw it and might give a comment....starting a conversation. I do this often. Well....a man did stop and comment....a pastor of a very large church....and he asked if he could borrow the book for his wife who was looking for a good book for her women's bible study. The book was a women's bible study....one in a series by Christian author Susan Hunt....and I was particularly impressed with it....had already read it....and brought it along for a purpose....not knowing what that purpose would be until I had the idea to take it along to the pool. The pastor later returned the book saying that his wife was going to use the series.
Why do these things? This is just me. You do what you do....and I do what I do....but still....why? Well I'll tell you why....I had come to fully understand where I was at one time heading....at full speed....before Christ had mercy upon me. There was no way that I was going to go anywhere but into perdition. I certainly did not deserve any mercy....so why me? Why was I one of those given the most valuable gift in all of creation? Why did the King of all Kings....the Lord of all glory....the incarnate Son of God....pay such a price....for one so miserable?
Having come to terms with this fact....then it became apparent to me that if I was indeed given this gift of grace....and understood what had happened....where I was deservedly going....and where I was now given mercy and grace....that something would be terribly wrong if I just sat there....so to speak....happy for me....and not particularly caring that anyone else be pulled from the fire....the same fire that I should have already gone on to. How could I be so saved....and not then overwhelmingly thankful? It went against common sense....for either I only tasted of that grace....never being adopted into God's family....never born again.....and not really a Christian....(that would at least make sense....'saved'...but not particularly thrilled)....or if I was indeed a Christian....and that salvation was not amazing literally every day of my new life....then using just common sense once again....what would be so wonderful about this God....or this salvation....as anyone could just go to church and get it....and not miss a beat in life?
To the Christian reader out there....one hour a week for God....and ten hours to sports....and twenty just goofing around? What kind of God would this even be if he were to be pleased with this? What would be so special about this salvation? To the unconverted out there who has one of my pens.....and thus visited this post....you are on the right track....I don't blame you....you turn on Christian TV.....or hear some bling celebrity....or see some hundred million dollar sports idol pointing to heaven after scoring some kind of point....or watch some two-faced politician bloviate about God to get some evangelical votes....something is not making sense here. That doesn't excuse you for your unbelief....but it may give you a clearer mind if you should ever come across the genuine Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'll give you a hint of some places to explore....ligonier.org....or....whitehorseinn.org....or....desiringgod.org.
