Above our paygrade

I am addicted to a website called "OUinsider" and for those that know me even a little bit, this would not come as a surprise. Today I was clowning around on the message board and a guy had a post that went something like this: "I have been given a little more than a year to live by doctors. They say that I have pancreatic cancer and the first thing that popped into my mind was that I needed to enjoy every moment with my kids and family. The second was that I would not be happy if I did not live to see OU get #8 (national championship)."

Some posters chimed in that they were sorry, would be praying for him, etc. Then one poster said he knew this guy and that he was not nor did he want to be religious. He said this man would appreciate our sympathies, but more than anything just wanted to talk OU football. A couple posts later, someone said that they appreciated where he was coming from, but wanted to implore him not to turn his back on God. He said God would be there and that he should turn his life over to him.

As I read that, the first thought I had was "well thats ok, he is just trying to help the guy." But my second thought was "when did we start to think it was always our job to change people's minds?" To be honest, I think it is insulting both to the person's free choice and to God's ability to woo. Its not through persuasive language or clever acronyms that bring people to faith in Jesus Christ, it is through his tender love and grace. I just think if we would do our job better, that is, being the church, feeding the hungry, loving the unlovely, God would be more free to do his job.

The way I think about is this: When I am cooking in the kitchen, Rufus always wants to come along. He may think he is being helpful, or he may just think I will drop something, but either way it would be a lot easier on me if he wasn't under my feet. I think maybe God thinks the same way. He appreciates that we want to help woo people, but he is also saying, "Look your job is just to be the church. Sure speak the truth, but don't go around volunteering it all the time. Live the way I have commanded you and let me take care of the things you can't control." I think people would listen to us more if we weren't always volunteering to tell them how to make their lives better.