A doctor, a lawyer, a little boy and a pastor were out for a Sunday afternoon flight on a small private plane. Suddenly, the plane developed engine trouble. In spite of the best efforts of the pilot, the plane started to go down. Finally, the pilot grabbed a parachute, yelled to the passengers that they had better jump, and then he bailed out. Unfortunately, there were only three parachutes remaining. The doctor grabbed one and said “I’m a doctor, I save lives, so I must live,” and jumped out. The lawyer then said, “I’m a lawyer and lawyers are the smartest people in the world. I deserve to live.” He also grabbed a parachute and jumped. The pastor looked at the little boy and said, “My son, I’ve lived a long and full life. You are young and have your whole life ahead of you. Take the last parachute and live in peace.” The little boy handed the parachute back to the pastor and said, “Not to worry, Pastor. The ‘smartest man in the world’ just took off with my back pack.”
Isn’t it funny how smart we think we are sometimes? I’ve noticed something common to new parents. Their children are usually smarter than any other child who has come before. I know mine were. Something happened to them when they hit puberty that erased any hope of intelligence that I had though. We usually tend to think rather highly of ourselves. At least in relation to everyone else. They’re the stupid ones. It’s always their fault that we make mistakes. If we could just pack them up and ship them off somewhere the world would be a better place. Except for that place we shipped them off to. Sometimes I think we place too much emphasis on them.
How many times have you been sitting in church listening to a message and thinking about someone who needed to be there to hear it? I know I do that just about every week. Here’s another question. When was the last time you left a church service challenged to change because of what you heard? If you’re a typical church attendee you are not challenged to change any aspect of your life according to a recent survey. In a 2010 survey, only 17% of church attendees said that the weekly sermon frequently changed their attitudes towards others or helped them look afresh at controversial or topical issues. Sixty-two percent of those questioned said sermons frequently gave them a sense of God’s love and helped them to understand Jesus; two-thirds said they “frequently” looked forward to the sermon; and 84 percent said the sermons should be rooted in the Bible. The conclusion of the research team was that sermons are better at helping people reflect than at challenging them to act. While reflection often precedes action, the action seems to be missing.
Why is it so difficult for us to accept change, especially when it involves our behavior? We have become creatures of habit rather than creatures of the Creator. I heard a message recently about the state of the world. It was an evangelistic message that focused on the number of lost people in the world. The speaker illustrated his point by telling us that there were 5 billion people worldwide who still do not know Christ. He said that if you were to line those people up at the front of the church, front to back, the line of people would reach to the East coast of the US. If you were to build a bridge, the line of people would extend all the way to Europe. In fact, the line would reach all the way across Europe, and into Asia. From Asia, if we were to build another bridge, the line of people would extend back to the opposite coast of the US, stretch across America and come right back in the door of the church. In fact, the line of lost people would do this not only once, but 37 times! Now, you would think that after hearing a statistic like that, and visualizing a line of people spanning the globe 37 times who were going to Hell, the church would mobilize. People would begin witnessing like never before, inviting their friends and neighbors to their church, warning them of the dangers of continuing a life without Christ! Pastors who heard this message would place a renewed emphasis on evangelism in their churches and begin making an impact on their communities. Churches all over the country would be bursting at the seams. No – we came back from that conference and quoted that statistic to those who weren’t there. We used it as a sermon illustration. We told others the same thing that we had heard. We disseminated the information, but we remained unchallenged and unchanged. I say we, because I am in the same boat. We didn’t begin witnessing, we didn’t invite our friends and neighbors, we went about our lives as usual. Within a few months, the illustration and any sense of urgency for the lost we got from that conference was gone.
Why is that? How can we sit in a church every week and hear a message that we apply to others, but remain unchanged ourselves? What would it take for us to recognize the need for change in our own lives? Why do we not confront sin in our lives when it is pointed out to us? I think it’s because we have become comfortable in our sin. See, we tend to hold our own sin so close to us that we can’t even recognize it. On the other hand, we’re very quick to point out the flaws in others. Let me give you an illustration. Pick out someone else in the room. Now, look at their face. Can you see their nose? That’s their sin. It’s easily visible to us. Now, while still looking at them, can you see your own nose? That’s your sin. It’s so close that you can easily see around it, while the other person’s sin is… well…. as clear as the nose on their face. You can accomplish a similar illustration by holding your finger, pointing up, out in front of your face. Can you see it? Now, bring your finger, still pointing upward, up to your face and touch your nose. Now look at the other side of the room. Can you still see your finger?
I think that if we were to recognize our own sin for what it is – sin – we would be more apt to change our behavior. We hold our sin close. If we were to step back a little and see it the way others do, would we do anything different? If we were to just listen to the message every week with ourselves in mind rather than projecting it onto others, would we do anything different? I’m sure we would. The thing is, we often don’t see the necessity of change when a change comes along. And while change for the sake of change is never good, the times in my life that I have grown the most have been during and after times of change. I have mentioned the death of my Father in previous posts. That was a difficult time of change in my life. I could no longer call him for advice. I no longer had him to fall back on financially if I faced a financial challenge. He was not there to offer unsolicited advice on situations that he observed. I no longer had a rudder to help steer me, parent me, in the right direction. However, those changes, while very difficult to go through have helped shape me into a better man, father, leader and husband than I would be today if he were still alive. Without my Father to fall back on financially, I have had to make better financial decisions. Without him to call for advice, I have been forced to choose more wisely when making decisions. Without my dad around to offer advice based on his experience, I have had to go through some difficult times and gain some experience of my own. And I am better for it.
Not that I don’t wish with all of my heart that my Father were still here to see his great grand children, or to witness some of my accomplishments or just to share life with. However, in the midst of difficult change, I have become better for it. The same is true for each of us. Once we give up the sin that we hold so close to us, we realize that we have become better for it. Addicts don’t think that they can live without the thing that they are addicted to. It’s not until after they are free from the addiction that they realize how much better off they are without it.
When you are faced with a changing situation in your life, how do you react? How will you react in the future? None of us is comfortable with change. We don’t know what’s on the other side of the change and that is uncomfortable. But we must realize that often, on the other side of that change is a better organization, a better marriage, a better us. We’re not as smart as we think we are. How do you face the challenge of change?