Not long ago I was offered a job in Lancaster, PA, to head up the marketing
department for a nationally syndicated radio show. My wife and I drove there to
check out both the job and the area. Although I decided not to take the
position, we enjoyed the trip. During the late-night drive back home something
caught my eye that spoke directly to my heart. On the side of the road I saw one
of the biggest billboards I had ever witnessed in my life. It was dark outside
and there were six extremely bright lights shining directly on the enormous
sign. The only problem was it was a blank billboard.
It was completely white--it didn't even offer the sign companies phone number
for businesses to rent the space for advertisement. I felt the sign company was
negligent for wasting energy by shining those enormous lights on a blank
billboard. The sign company was probably spending a fortune on nothing more than
a blank sign.
Then it occurred to me: far too often, too many Christians are doing the same
exact thing. We lose sight of what it is we are supposed to be doing, and before
you know it, we are standing by the side of the Road of Life trying to warn
those who are not Christians of the dangers up ahead. And although we have a
giant pedestal to stand on, a great location for everyone to see us, as well as
all the world's spotlights directly on us, we have somehow lost the message.
Maybe the spotlights have blinded us, or caused us to think more of ourselves
than the actual message. Maybe standing on the grand pedestal has caused us to
think more about our ministry than the actual message. Or maybe we felt the
message somehow stood in the way of what we thought was true ministerial
success, so we tried to water it down or camouflage it altogether.
In any event, when we work harder to be seen in the name of the Christian
ministry rather than in the name of the Christian message, we automatically
forfeit the message. We might as well be putting up a blank white billboard.
Our lives should speak the message for us. Saint Francis of Assisi once invited
a young monk to join him on a trip to town to preach. Honored to have received
the invitation, the young monk readily accepted.
All day long he and Francis walked through the streets, byways, alleys, and even
the suburbs. They rubbed shoulders with hundreds of people. At the day's end,
the two headed back home. Not even once had Francis addressed a crowd, nor had
he talked to anyone about the gospel. Greatly disappointed, his young companion
said, "I thought we were going to town to preach." Francis responded, "My son,
we have preached. We were preaching while we were walking. We were seen by many
and our behavior was closely watched. It is of no use to walk anywhere to preach
unless we preach everywhere as we walk!"
It's true: there are many people watching closely. Better make sure when the
spotlight hits you, the message is loud and clear.
Mike Collins www.mikecollins.biz
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