He stared at her until she got up and exited the building.
Spring had arrived, and our church needed to schedule one of our two annual revivals. But one year, we decided to hold only one and hire a full-time evangelist.
A church member had recently begun a van ministry. Each Sunday, she faithfully picked up kids from the neighborhood and brought them to church. We never saw any of their parents—until one night during our revival.
A young mother with a small child walked in and sat near the front. Her baby was restless, the preacher was preaching passionately, and the mother was trying to quiet her. I saw irritation wash over the revivalist’s face as the mother kept sitting and listening while her baby whimpered. See, we had no scheduled nursery—we had no nursery-age children in the church—and no one got up and offered to take the small child to our nursery.
Then it happened. He stopped preaching and gave her the Aren’t-you-going-to-leave stare. After what seemed like an eternity of silence, she did. We never saw her or her child again. A potential believer was lost. I suppose the evangelist believed the adage, “children should be seen and not heard.” I wondered where he found that in the Bible. I also wondered whether he ever felt any shame about turning away someone who needed and wanted to hear about Jesus.
Those Jesus called blind guides were not dastardly criminals, but religious leaders. It’s ironic that he called them that, but they led people astray with their traditions and added interpretations to God’s law. Jesus corrected them with scathing words.
Traditions can be good or bad, but even good ones become bad when we elevate them to the same level as God’s Word and then make others feel guilty for not obeying them. This makes us blind guides, and our destiny is to fall into a ditch. Our hypocritical actions will lead others farther from God, not closer to him.
God wants us to share his truth, not the interpretations or traditions we’ve developed around it. His truth—and his truth alone—sets people free.
Don’t let your traditions or personal convictions hinder you from delivering God’s simple truth to others.
Father, I thank you for your truth. May I faithfully deliver it, without adding anything.
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