And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. (1 Corinthians 2:1, NIV)
What if I told you it doesn’t matter how good you are as a golfer? Would you breathe a sigh of relief?
Of course, we all know this in the back of our mind. We practice because we want to get better. We think we might touch the edge of heaven if we ever make a hole-in-one or shoot even par or win a club tournament. But we don’t think it all the way to end. Life has plenty of opportunities for us if our golf doesn’t work out the way we planned. And we trust God enough to concede this.
But we have also heard the idea of platforms—those stages we are given to unleash our testimonies into the ears of those who would hear. Professional athletes, we are told, have such platforms, granted to them by their success on the court or the field or the course. People listen to winners, so winners who also believe in Jesus find ears more readily than the rest of us. Maybe. Or maybe they just find more ears.
Paul was by his own admission unimpressive and weak. Yet his words have never gone away.The problem with platforms and preachers is that they keep too many of us roadies and groupies and general ticketholders from doing much at all—as though the gospel living in us is less than the gospel living in the famous ones.
Paul allowed for no such thing.
The apostle lived and worked and made effort to teach in a culture as starry-eyed toward celebrities as we are. The Greeks and Romans and travelers in Corinth, for instance, were wooed and wowed by those who knew how to talk. Logicians. Orators. Wise men. Their skills in this arena opened the door for them to tickle itching ears.
Paul knew he couldn’t compete with all these superstars. But he also knew he didn’t need to. The message he bore came with a power all its own. It didn’t need an elocutionist or seasoned philosopher to make it go.
Too many of us are too practiced at excusing ourselves from talking out loud about Jesus. No one wants to hear that from me, we tell ourselves. I’m a tongue-tied dimwit when it comes to this stuff.
Well, let me say what’s been said before: It’s not about you. Paul was no mighty man as we tend to think of him. He was by his own admission unimpressive and weak. Yet his words have never gone away. You and I read them together even now. It’s because they are the words of the gospel. They fly on God’s wings, not ours.
So speak up, my friend. You don’t have to string the words together like a poet or bellow them out like a carnival barker. You just need to say what you know to be true: Jesus saves. He’s saved you. He can save any you talk to about him. That’s his doing, not yours.
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Jeff Hopper
February 26, 2019
Copyright 2019 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.