I’ve been reading through the Bible in a year on my smart
phone using one of plans offered free through YouVersion. https://www.youversion.com/ Recently,
the reading was from that obscure Old Testament book “Ecclesiastes”. Here is
the enigmatic advice the preacher gives:
ESV Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 Cast
your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. 2
Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may
happen on earth. 3 If the clouds are full of rain, they empty
themselves on the earth, and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in
the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. 4 He who observes
the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. 5
As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb1 of
a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. 6
In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do
not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.
The passage begins, “Cast
your bread upon the waters” – what does that mean!?! The last time I tossed
bread onto a pond I was feeding geese. But here the preacher says after many
days you’ll find it again. Frankly, I’m not sure I would want to find that soggy bread after many days! Nasty! Of course,
the Scriptures aren’t referring to feeding geese or to nasty moldy mush. The
wise preacher is advising the reader to take a risk.
Throughout his short book the
preacher has been arguing that all is vanity. (Eccl. 1:2) Life is short, most
of the important questions / mysteries of life cannot be decisively answered. Since
this is true and because life is so uncertain, act! Do something! Take a risk.
“Cast your bread upon the waters”. Risk your fortune on something – even
something as risky as a sea venture. Do something! Just don’t sit on your hands
doing nothing! Disaster may happen at any moment. But don’t live in fear of
disaster -a tree falls where it will (v3) so maybe you ought not to put all
your eggs in one basket (v2). Don’t over analyze things. If you wait for
perfection you’ll never do anything – never start planting your fields (v4)!
“My name is Josh, and I’m a
perfectionist.” There I said it. The cat is out of the bag. I’m the sort of
person who will attempt to become an expert on something before I actually try doing it. I hate failure - absolutely
loath it. I’ll play it safe and gather every scrap of data I can find about a
subject before I attempt to do something about it. To put it another way – I’m
the opposite of Apostle Peter. Conservative. Cautious. Detail orientated.
Valuing Excellence. I enjoy tinkering – working to get things 10% better. All
in pursuit of that elusive goal: perfection. Absence of risk. Guaranteed
result. Proficiency. A quip my electrician grandpa made when I was helping him
on the job site has become my mantra: “perfect is good enough”.
The bottom line is that you can’t
mitigate all risk. And in fact it is counterproductive to delay action until
you’re an expert. Most things in life you won’t become proficient at unless
you’ve tried & failed hundreds of times. Many Christians live in fear of
“evangelism”. After all, we’re talking about peoples’ eternal destinies here –
this is serious stuff! You don’t want to mess it up. What if I said the wrong
thing? What if I accidently drove them further from Christ instead of to Him?
I’m not an expert here. I don’t have much experience. Speaking for Jesus is a
big deal. I better leave it to the experts, I’d just mess it up.
Such thoughts are as far from the
gospel and the Christian ethos as you can be. Do you remember Levi the tax
collector? The moment after his conversion he threw a party in honor of Jesus
and invited tax collectors and other sinners. I wonder if Levi, the newest
intern, botched his sermon/toast that night? But it doesn’t matter. The point
is – Levi acted. He did something. It seems to me evangelism is to be like that.
Evangelism is inherently messy and inefficient. You scatter seed and probably
only one out of four will take root. (Parable of the 4 Soils – Luke 8).
Sharing the gospel is a serious thing. Peoples’ eternal
destinies depend on it. But the fact of its weightiness or importance should
not discourage risk taking it should promote it. If there was ever something
worthy of risk-taking it is evangelism. You’re going to fail. I’m going to
fail, but not every time. “Cast your
bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.” Casting bread
/ sowing seed can seem like such a worthless activity. But give it time. Do not
lose heart. For “the Word of God shall not
return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall
succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)
Hey, if you’re around the Evansville area – join us
this Sunday (8/18) at 10:00am for a service in the park. And next Thursday
(8/22) at 7:00pm we’re hosting a free concert at the Performing Arts
Center at the High School.
The Durocher Family band is coming to town. Should be a great evangelistic
event! www.DurocherFamilyMusic.com
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