At this second response, I said “are you asking how many adult
professions of faith we’ve had?” And he
said yes. To which I told him “Well, I’ve
had five adult professions of faith, but I am not responsible for any of them,
and so I guess I would say I haven’t brought anyone to Christ.” I then followed up by saying “there were
hundreds or maybe thousands of people before me who did all the work, and then
there was the conviction brought by the Holy Spirit. None of this was my doing, I just happened to
be the one who was there when they decided to make their commitment to God. And so if you ask how many people I brought
to Christ, the answer is none, because the hard work was done before me, but if
you ask how many people I’ve had make a profession of faith this year, it’s
five. But those are two very different
questions.”
I don’t think he was really happy with my answer, but something I find
among my more conservative or evangelical colleagues is a blindness not only to
see the work of others, but more importantly not to see the work of the Holy
Spirit. Sometimes it even seems that
they doubt the work of the Holy Spirit all together with their emphasis on all the
work they must do, and have done, to get someone to “come to Christ.” As a result they take all the credit for
something I don’t think they can or should take credit for.
There is best illustrated by someone I know who is routinely going
around to different areas of the country preaching “revivals” and putting more
notches in his belt, which he is certain to tell you all about. The problem is he has so many notches that his
belt is bound to fall apart anytime and then I wonder what he is going to do.
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