Thank You for Your Contribution!

I was once asked to share the gospel at a gathering of people mostly unknown to me. The Christians who invited me wanted their unchurched friends and family who were attending to hear about Jesus.

Well, I did my best. I love talking about Jesus, and I spoke as plainly and as winsomely as I know how. I’m sure some in the audience appreciated my talk, but it was just as obvious that others wished there had been a trap door under my feet, and that they could have sprung it.

After it was all over, a woman who clearly didn’t like my presentation, said rather condescendingly, “Thank you for your contribution.” As lame and inappropriate and ridiculous as it was, I think she meant to add.

I could see her point. Even our best efforts to serve the Lord or speak up for Him aren’t much in the end. We're kidding ourselves if we think our great abilities, wisdom, eloquence, or giftedness make the difference.

Jesus is the one who does the miracles. He uses us from time to time, but we should never imagine it's because our "contribution" is so special.

• He can take a child's brown-bag lunch and feed a multitude of people. 
• Fill jars with plain old water, and He can transform them into the finest wine anyone has ever tasted.
• Dirt on the ground mixed with His own spit can make mud that restores a man's eyesight (John 9:6f).
• One touch from His hand and leprosy is cleansed.
• One word from His mouth and the dead are raised.

An old story from Harry Ironside makes the point:  an older Christian gave his testimony about how, by His sovereign grace, the Lord had loved and called him, saved and cleansed him. Later a rather legalistic brother took him aside and criticized his talk. "I appreciated all you said about what God did for you. But you didn't mention anything about your part in it. Salvation is really part us and part God. You should have mentioned something about your part."

"Oh, yes," the older Christian said. "I apologize for that. I'm sorry. I really should have said something about my part. My part was running away, and his part was running after me until he caught me" (from James Boice's The Doctrines of Grace).

Thank you for your contribution. But Jesus is the One who makes the difference!