May 11, 2015
Mystery Basket
There are a variety of competitive
cooking shows on the Food Network and some require contestants to uses selected
ingredients for their dish. The show “Chopped” is comprised of three rounds (appetizer,
entrée and dessert) and for each round contestants have a mystery basket of
four items which they must incorporate in their dish. It’s not unusual for participants
to take something out of their basket and say, “What am I going to do with
this? I don’t even know what this is.” I’m wondering if the Lord doesn’t
sometimes present us with a mystery basket of evangelistic tools. I can picture opening a basket containing obedience,
grace, mercy and repentance and then giving me 30 minutes to combine these
ingredients into something that tastes good to an unbeliever. “But in your
hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to
everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do
this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear
conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in
Christ may be ashamed of their slander” (1 Peter 3:15-16 NIV).
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----Until recently I’ve had trouble giving the reason for the hope I have. Maybe the biggest reason my life belongs to the Lord is because He is the Truth and the Word. Anything regarding the truth must make evidentiary sense. Something can not be true while factual evidence logically denies it. Science is stacked very high against the scriptural claims of creation and Israel’s sojourn and emergence from Egypt and their wandering in the desert and conquest of Canaan, etc. That’s pretty hard on scriptural authority.
-----Someone like me must either cast aside scripture or science under such circumstances. Neither is sensible. So I’ve spent as much time as I can studying science and history and the Bible during my life looking for how these logically correlate, or not. Proclamations such as, “Scientists are just biased, so you can’t believe what they say,” don’t cut mustard without compelling evidence.
-----God told Israel through Moses that they could know a prophet by whether or not his prophecies proved true. There is no other book on earth even slightly like the Bible. Any of its historical claims about events and circumstances of which we have compelling archeological evidence are supported by that evidence. And its prophetic element is breathtaking when overlaid upon history, something science cannot, has not, nor tries not to explain.
-----Most of our brethren just ignore scientific claims and place their faith in the Bible. I can’t do that. So I’ve learned to hold science suspect until it proves itself as much otherwise as the Word has prophetically validated itself. In the last couple years my patience has paid off. I’ve now learned enough about this material existence to be able to demonstrate how what can be known about it correlates very well with the Bible, and the claims of science are…well…stacked. If science weren’t stacked, the correlation between it and the Bible would be blatantly obvious.
-----Now that I can give sound reason for the faith that is in me, I stand aghast at how easily and quickly people dismiss good reason to have what they want. You can talk to them until you are blue in the face, carefully laying out all logical, sound, compelling proof for a truthful conclusion, and it is dismissed by a simple, “Well, that’s not the way I see it.” I’m ok with that. I thank God I don’t have to wear anyone else’s bifocals. And if they don’t want to scrape the ice from them, that’s their business. It’s their hide, fireproof or not. At least their glasses will get defrosted.
-----So now I am embarking on a little study of rhetoric, because, well, people still matter more than anything, and something really needs to get the gospel past those foggy spectacles.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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