I don’t know about women’s public restrooms. But, there is a curious phenomenon in the men’s room. I occasionally see a small pocket size, comic book by the sink. It was left there by someone before me. It was left there for me…….or someone like me…….by a stranger who wants to help me. In ten pages, it tells a story from the Bible. The purpose of this “tract” is to draw me closer to my creator……..or even better……..to introduce him to me for the first time. I typically glance at it and leave it there. The guy who put it there was trying to share something of great value…….and I just dismiss it and go on about my day. This actually happens many times, in many different ways every day. A Christian puts a message of faith, love, and hope in my path…..possibly a message like this blog……..and I blow right past it.
Why?
I am already a “sold out believer”. The tract tells me nothing new.
I am in a hurry and hanging out in a public toilet is not my thing.
It might be soiled.
I believe that the guy who left it is naive, though good intentioned. He is probably not too bright…….not as sophisticated as me. What could a guy who litters public toilets teach me about God?
Even if God is real……this is not where he would reach out to me.
It’s just another bit of superstitious dribble. Only a fool would buy it.
All of these things are untrue……some more than others.
It’s not the tract that concerns me today. It is my reaction to the tract. It is my reaction to the streetcorner preacher…..to the Jehovas witness who knocks on my door on Sunday morning…….to the two young Mormon men riding bikes down the road……to the billboard that says “where will you spend eternity?”…….to the parent trying to get the school board to allow prayer in her kid’s school.
Occasionally, I am annoyed. Often, I silently critique their message or their delivery. Or, perhaps, I say to myself, “I could do better than that.” I clearly recall walking past a streetcorner preacher who was shouting death and damnation to passers by and saying to myself, “you can’t annoy people into salvation.” And that may be true.
But, here’s the thing. All of the people that I have mentioned are evangelists. They are all giving up their time to depopulate hell. Some are more skilled than others. Some of them may be so unskilled that their work is counterproductive. But, if you look at their heart, they are trying to give us all something of great value. They are trying to share with all of us what is arguably the most valuable idea that has ever entered the human conscious.
Jesus saves.
I was once in the army. I get a discount at many businesses. The clerk often says, “thanks for your service”. That statement is a small thing, probably “pro forma”. But, it feels good to hear it. Maybe that is the correct response to the tract in the toilet.
Thanks for your service.
John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us. For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.”
Jesus and John, Mark 9: 38-41, ESV