Knowledge Is Nothing Without Willingness

There's a well-known saying along the lines of "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink". Sayings like those are usually nothing more than pretty one liners until you've seen them operating in real life. I learnt this the hard way. I was berrated by one my bosses for personality failures of mine that made it hard for colleagues to work with me. I had known about these failures for some time. While perhaps I gained some new perspective of the impact of these personality flaws, I was not being filled with a desire to change them. I had the knowledge, but I had no desire to make use of it - I had no inclination to drink. This principle lies at the heart of evangelism too. You can preach, but you can't convert. In truth, people are so varied that it becomes difficult to preach a universal message. Maybe most people will respond to a simple Billy Graham style message, but there are also those who just need to feel God's presence or feel the love of a fellow Christian. In fact some need a hell and brimstone message. Do what you can to help people not just hear the truth, but to respond to it to. Thank God we have the Holy Spirit's help on that one. (also see John 7:17)

A Christian is Under Authority

I had interesting argument with my boss. I really knew where I was wrong and I guess I just needed someone to tell me so - effectively to say enough is enough. Now this may sound arrogant, but the decision to acknowledge error, in my heart, and accept the need to change was mine. I hated the discussion. The person speaking to me was using the wrong language, the wrong tone, came across as remarkedly pert and I could very easily have pulled out and said I'm not interested. But there is one difference: I am under authority. Not human authority, but God's authority. I am in a position where I must bow my knee and I don't have the final say (not by force, but by my decision to become a follower of Christ). I thought about our conversation and realised the person talking to me wasn't under authority - their tone of voice and refusal to accept their own wrongs and unwillingness to accomodate me told a story of the independent life of a non-Christian. Incredibly, the concept of being submitted under an authority is highly frowned upon in today's modern secular teaching, but it results in better humans, who can more easily find their place, not because of what is rammed down their throats, but because they know they can never escape the real boss, that good actually does really win and bad doesn't really go unpunished.

Dangers of Being a Self-Employed Policeman

I have a habit of flashing drivers who drive really badly. Some people disagree with my habit, but while I avoid petulance, I do think that people should know when they're really out of line. Anyway, it was near midnight in a rainy suburb and a guy roared past me and received the flash. He slowed down checked me out and then went roaring off into the distance. I looked ahead and saw that he had turned around and faced me ... uh-aw! Now was he going to ram me? Would he force me off the road? Shoot me? Play chicken? Either way, I was not going to play this game and turned around and sped off down a side road and rejoined the main road, where he started chasing me. I turned left and he turned right and that was the end of that. Needless to say, I was a little shaken - was I dealing with mischief or was this a case of angry black youth about to shoot me dead? The moral of the story is this: if you're going to play policeman, be sure you have a gun.