I’m sooooo tired of hearing this quote. I don’t really care who said it — whether it was Ben Franklin, Mark Twain, Einstein, or, as Wikiquote.org reports, some lady author named Rita Mae Brown. The truth is, sometimes I get it. For example, suppose we have 10,000 churches who all say, “We’ve decided not to pick up any new missionaries,” and suppose their 10,000 missionaries all say, “We’re going to focus on perfecting the saints,” and then someone observes, “Thank goodness we’ve got 10,000 missionaries so we can reach all these unreached people groups.” I guess, see, that doesn’t make sense. Because if we keep perfecting the saints [only], then how do we think we’re going to find a way to reach 2 billion untold individuals in 7000 different ethnolinguistic groups?
Having said that, sometimes the “definition of insanity” quote irks me. For example, I’m sure I do certain things that annoy my wife. (I know that because, well, sometimes she admits it. :-) Several times. OK — lots of times. [teasing]) Maybe I forget to bring in the empty trash can, or leave my desk cluttered, or forget to pickup milk at the store even though she just asked me to do so. But the craziest thing is — she keeps on loving me. Now … in some ways, she fits the definition of insanity. (Maybe I should re-word that.) Because she keeps loving me, doing the same thing over and over again, hoping against hope that I’ll ‘get it’ and stop doing those bothersome things that annoy her. Is it crazy that she keeps loving me? Maybe. But we don’t want her to stop doing it. Sometimes, it’s actually *constructive* to do the same things over again, even though we keep getting the same result — because we don’t want to give up.
Reaching unreached peoples is like that. Now granted, we ought to keep looking for ingenious solutions, innovative strategies, and modern methods. But at the end of the day, even if they don’t listen, I’m going to be advocating that we still don’t give up. We *never* give up. Because — God told us to do this. And he’s the boss. So we keep telling them, and we keep sending workers, and we keep explaining the gospel — because he said so. We don’t quit. We forge on. This is what we do. And sooner or later, some of them (many of them?) *will* respond. Sometimes it will have taken us years. Decades. But that’s ok. Because sometimes, it’s *not* the definition of insanity, thank you very much Ms. Rita Mae Brown. Sometimes, it’s because those are our marching orders. And this is what we do, regardless of how it looks and regardless of how difficult it is. “Make disciples of all nations” doesn’t sound like an easy task anyway. Why did we ever think it would be? :-)
Right on, Doug! “Keep on Keeping On” fits perfect with your comments. Another pet peve is: “Why go there, you can’t preach freely, why go there, you can’t evangelize, why go there, you can’t OPENLY open the WORD and teach them, then WHY waste your time”? My answer is:
“WHY NOT”. Someone has to go, someone has to lay their lives down, someone has to, just as you said, “BECAUSE GOD TOLD US TO DO IT”.
Yes, maybe we are insane. Paul said, “I am crazy for the Lord Jesus Christ”. Maybe we are not “insane” enough! Get out there, take that leap of faith, and go be that ‘light’ for JESUS, no
matter the cost! You don’t know what an impact you are making. YOU ARE THE WORD. “GO” spread the gospel, be inventive, be creative, and watch GOD bless your tireless efforts.
Insanity for GOD is a compliment. We must never, ever give up.
Amen. Often being faithful requires us to do the same thing over and over often with seemingly insignificant results. When I get to heaven I want to hear “well done, my good and faithful servant.”
So to ALL those who feel like giving up because
you don’t see immediate results; results are being made. We may never see them, but that doesn’t stop us, from doing what HE has told us to do. Many fields are glowing with great reports, and others struggle to make a dent in their evangelistic efforts. Don’t give up. Keep in the Brigade of Fighters. When one door closes, another will open. GOD is seeing it all, and full well knows that HE doesn’t send us to places that through HIS power and strength that we cannot do it. We can! We are! Through Him.
and one day Daniel, IF you don’t give up, (and i am speaking to myself right now) you will hear
those words that you long to hear…”Daniel, my son…welcome. You have been faithful in all that i have given you to do”!