So go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” [Matthew 28:19 (NCV)]
Dorian has departed and we Floridians are taking down hurricane shutters and removing plywood from our windows. Some people avoided that task by having high-impact windows and doors that combine specially glazed impact-resistant glass with heavy duty frames that keep the glass from breaking away from its frame; while the glass may crack from a direct hit, it will not break. In theory, when a home or business has such glass installed, no additional shutters, screens, or plywood are necessary to protect it from the ravages of a hurricane.
A friend recently sent me a meme with the words, “Do you believe in your own product?” It showed a business near West Palm Beach; the sign above the door said it sold “Impact Windows & Doors!” Since all of its windows were covered with plywood, the picture wasn’t a good testimony to the business owner’s confidence in his own product. Any potential customer seeing the plywood covering the glass might question the truth of his claims about its ability to weather a storm.
I suspect I know why there was plywood over those windows. I know of people whose supposedly impact-resistant window frames were bowed by Hurricane Irma’s forceful winds. While their windows remained intact (as promised), the rain blew in through gaps in the twisted frames. It could be that, while he touts the benefits of his product, the business owner knows that it’s not 100% trustworthy. When facing the likes of Dorian, complete faith in his windows failed.
Having been instructed to make disciples, we share the gospel message in the hope that people will want to have Jesus in their lives. In effect, our Christian witness is a little like selling a product. The meme and the question it posed made me wonder if our lives truly support our faith in the effectiveness of our product. Do we act as if we believe in Him and His promises? We say we trust God completely and yet, just in case He doesn’t come through, we tend to worry, fret, and fuss which isn’t much different than putting up plywood over the glass we claim to be impact resistant. Either we believe, trust, and place our lives in God’s hands or we don’t! If we truly trust Him, we must depend on Him in more than just the sunshine, summer showers and gentle winds we encounter. We must have faith in the thunderstorms, blizzards, tsunamis, tornadoes and hurricanes of life, as well!
It’s been said that people can tell the size of our God by the length of our worry list: the shorter the list, the greater our God. When life’s storms are brewing, do we worry or pray? Do we put our faith in God or ourselves? Unlike the not-so-confident business owner, we can be confident in our God; He is 100% effective and trustworthy. But, when we worry, we’re a poor witness for our product. It’s not enough to speak of our impact-resistant God; we must live as if we truly believe that He can still any storm.
The great act of faith is when man decides that he is not God. [Oliver Wendell Holmes]
Devotions of the Heart 