eFax of Life from CBMC Heartland
A Weekly Inspirational Thought from Ken Korkow
Quick, Predictable Results
A business friend called earlier this week with a question: "Is it a sin to operate my business on Sunday?"
He wanted a fast / simple answer.
Ever wonder why the Bible doesn't point us to rules and formulas? Why it doesn't give fast / simple answers to many of life's constant questions?
Before we go further, please consider this story from a school with a unique problem:
A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night the maintenance man would remove them and the next day the girls would put them back.
Finally, the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night. To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required.
He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.
This story probably makes you smile. You know the girls 'got the point' without a big lecture. And, it seems to me, that's what God does through His Word, the Bible.
God knows I want to reduce Him to a predictable equation so I can control the 'inputs' to pre-determine the 'outputs'. I want God as my own 'genie-in-a-bottle'. So He speaks to us through perplexing parables and muddled metaphors. He tells us stories about sheep and crops and obscure examples from a culture much different from our contemporary lives.
Yet, there are the principles. He wants me to know His heart. To be so one-with-Him that no matter what the new problem / issue / crisis / question happens to be - that I so know-His-heart that I can intuitively walk by faith and make the right decision.
So – what about running a business on Sunday? I had my friend read Romans 14. Funny. It talks about eating meat offered to idols – and observing special religious holidays. Yet a couple of the governing principles really spoke to my friend’s heart and helped him address the practical question:
- “to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.” (v. 14) Basically, if he thinks it is a compromise with God – then for him it IS a compromise / sin.
- “determine this – not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way.” (v13) Which means – our decisions impact more than ourselves and we need to be aware of their effect on others.
You and I walk by faith everyday. Faith in ourselves. Faith in others. Faith in things. Or faith in God.
God-faith is not for wimps. Because I’ve never seen Jesus, felt the physical touch of the Holy Spirit, heard the Father’s audible voice – I’d much rather trust in me, my money, my power, my control. So He shows me the futility of my ways and strips me down so that I finally realize nothing else really, eternally, fully works. Only as a last resort – do I finally trust Him.
And it is only then that I find Him trustworthy. All the other stuff I’d been kissing – had been washed in toilet water.
Ken Korkow
CBMC Heartland, 11/03/06
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