From "Our Daily Bread" - a past devotional I happened upon today.
In the days of John Wesley, lay preachers with limited education would
sometimes conduct the church services. One man used Luke 19:21 as his text:
"Lord, I feared Thee, because Thou art an austere man" (KJV). Not knowing the
word austere, he thought the text spoke of "an oyster man."
He explained how a diver must grope in dark, freezing water to retrieve oysters. In his attempt, he cuts his hands on the sharp edges of the shells. After he obtains an oyster, he rises to the surface, clutching it "in his torn and bleeding hands." The
preacher added, "Christ descended from the glory of heaven into . . . sinful
human society, in order to retrieve humans and bring them back up with Him to
the glory of heaven. His torn and bleeding hands are a sign of the value He has
placed on the object of His quest."
Afterward, 12 men received Christ. Later that night someone came to Wesley to complain about unschooled preachers who were too ignorant even to know the meaning of the texts they were preaching on.
The Oxford-educated Wesley simply said, "Never mind. The Lord got a dozen
oysters tonight."Our best may not always measure up to the standards of
others. But God takes our inadequacies and humble efforts and uses them for His
glory. — Cindy Hess Kasper
The Master can use what you have to offer,Though you may consider it small;His work here on earth is done through His children,So give Him your best, give your all. —Hess
Do what you can where you are with what you have.
3 comments:
that's kind of a double-edged sword. Do we need to use the same yardstick to measure others that we use for ourselves?
ouch.
Good question. On the one hand, I know that I am FAR more lenient to myself on certain matters than I am to other people, but on the other hand, on certain matters I can be my harshest critic, especially when I want to do something well. For example, when I gave the message two Sundays ago, I can think of offhand about 20 or so mistakes I made without even the help of instant replay. The most glaring error was when I mispronounced 'atrophy'. What? You don't remember that? That's my point. Nobody cares about that stuff, unless you're a perfectionistic nerdlinger with a penchant for attacking grammar and spelling mistakes everywhere you look, ESPECIALLY in your own writings.
However, when I am considering my own sins....now then the yardstick gets reversed. As damning upon myself as I was before, suddenly I can make excuses for my behavior, or find a rationale behind it. For example, nothing bothers me more than people who become angry at me on the road - it infuriates me to no end!! I didn't mean to personally offend you when I changed lanes in front of you!! It was a mistake!! But when someone does the same to me, AHA, righteous anger builds up in a crescendo of sometimes unpleasant words. I never even consider that they didn't mean to offend me.
Hmmm, I seem to have gone on for a bit. My keyboard is suffering from a severe letter hemorrhage - and on that note, I shall end.
My new quote of the week!!!
"unless you're a perfectionistic nerdlinger with a penchant for attacking grammar and spelling mistakes everywhere you look, ESPECIALLY in your own writings."
The fact that you used "penchant" in the sentence tells a tale about you my friend! Define nerdlinger rofl!!!!
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