Emphasis Preaching Journal

On this February Sunday, let us think of a hot summer day in Southeast Missouri. A man and woman drove up and down the main street playing gospel music and then proceeded to walk down the sidewalks collecting money. Most people were shamed into giving something, including the man I was standing with. I had doubts about where the money was going so I asked the wife. I asked her which church she represented. She resented the question, but told me it was in a church some miles distant. I knew the town but did not know her church so I asked her where it was in the town. That really disturbed her.

As I look back on that situation, I would compare her temperament to that of the well-known atheist, Madalyn Murray O'Hair. She said with great disgust, "I'll bet you're a Baptist preacher." I told her that I was a Methodist preacher. With a look of disdain and a snort, she said, "My husband and I were married by a Methodist preacher." My reply was instant: "Yes, and I'll bet your husband has been sorry ever since." That was the reply in my mind, but it was not the reply I gave her. Something in me wanted to wound her, but on that hot day God's love prompted me to answer, "Well, I hope you have many more years of happy marriage." I am not always that way, but that is my fault, not God's.

Now hear Paul's words about love not being arrogant or rude or irritable or resentful.
--Richardson