Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Two Snowplows and 10 000 Toilet Seats
In his book The Africans, David Lamb records a gift made by the Soviet Union to an African nation consisting of two snowplows and ten thousand toilet seats. It made perfect sense to the Russian, who has lots of snow and lots of toilets. Africa has snow only in one or two places (with no roads) and few toilets, even fewer at the time of the gift. What did that generosity accomplish? Nothing.
There are two parallels that I would like to draw. First, our standing before God. We can bring the largest gift possible and still, it would never be close to the substance of what God requires to have a standing before Him. Our righteousnesses, being filthy rags, are worse than the uselessness of the Soviet gift. Second, our ministry can often be like this. We pour money and effort and time into projects and programs that may not be reaching the real needs of a given people. Do not get me wrong, it is not wrong to plan and program. It is only wrong if the plans and programs do not rach the proper needs. People have heart needs, that is why we need to center ministry in God's Word. That is why Paul wrote First and Second Corithians. People also have life needs. We need to address those as well. That is why James wrote chapter two, okay his whole book. What we really need to do is take the time to evaluate the usefulness of our ministry and spend time consulting God for wisdom and skill in its administration.
There are two parallels that I would like to draw. First, our standing before God. We can bring the largest gift possible and still, it would never be close to the substance of what God requires to have a standing before Him. Our righteousnesses, being filthy rags, are worse than the uselessness of the Soviet gift. Second, our ministry can often be like this. We pour money and effort and time into projects and programs that may not be reaching the real needs of a given people. Do not get me wrong, it is not wrong to plan and program. It is only wrong if the plans and programs do not rach the proper needs. People have heart needs, that is why we need to center ministry in God's Word. That is why Paul wrote First and Second Corithians. People also have life needs. We need to address those as well. That is why James wrote chapter two, okay his whole book. What we really need to do is take the time to evaluate the usefulness of our ministry and spend time consulting God for wisdom and skill in its administration.
