There’s the story of a man stranded on the roof of his home during a torrential rain storm and found himself in danger of being drowned by the resulting flood. As the flood waters kept rising to take his life, he kept waiting for God to miraculously intervene and save his life. As he waited and he watched the rushing waters eroded the foundations of the building.
Soon he noticed a man in a canoe rowing quickly towards him. “Jump in!” the man shouted to him. “No thanks,” came his reply, “I’m waiting for God to intervene and save me!”
Puzzled, the man in the canoe paddled away. It was then our stranded homeowner heard what sounded like a popping sound. Suddenly, up came a skiff with its noisy two cycled motor (the popping sound). The skiff-owner shouted, “Climb in… save yourself!”
The water was now over the roof line and the flood-threatened homeowner clung to his chimney for dear life. The skiff-owner with the loud popping motor shouted again, “Climb in man! What are you waiting for? Time is running out!”
“Nope, I’m waiting for God to intervene and save me,” explained the man, as the flood waters rose up to his neck—and the roof-chimney began to sink into the mud. “Suit yourself,” shouted the rejected rescuer, “but at this rate you’ll drown in a matter of minutes!” With that the skiff sped off out of sight.
Suddenly, the flood waters collapsed the roof upon which he stood, the chimney gave way and our intrepid homeowner began to slide off of the roof into the raging torrents and toward certain death. Suddenly, out of nowhere came an almost explosive sound, VAAAaaarrroooom… whoosh…
At the very last second a gigantic military helicopter swooped down and a member of the crew grabbed our hapless homeowner by the wrist and attempted to pull him aboard. “Let go!” shouted the homeowner, “I’m waiting on God to show me…” as he slapped away the helping hand. With that our homeowner dropped into the waters below and drowned.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes to behold heaven. Realizing he had died and gone to heaven, our homeowner was perplexed… and seeing Jesus shouted, “I waited for you… why didn’t you save me—I waited for You to intervene?” God the Son replied, “Son, I sent a canoe, a motorboat (skiff), and a helicopter—what were you looking for? What were you waiting for?”
A few years ago I spoke to a missionary who wouldn’t witness or evangelize someone unless “God told them to.” As I listened to their excuses, my mind drifted to two thoughts. Thought # 1 was to the story of the homeowner (above) coupled with the value of theological training and really understanding what the Bible teaches about how God works. If God providentially brought a person into the missionary’s life, then hadn’t Jesus or the Holy Spirit spoken loudly enough already (canoe, skiff; helicopter)? Thought #2 was this, “What on earth were they waiting for?” A thundering voice from heaven? A column of smoke? A pillar of fire? What?! And if this unbelieving person died tomorrow and was consigned to the fires of Hell, what then? Was it God’s fault or the missionary’s complacency and/or ignorance (it had to be one or the other)? I doubt it was God’s fault. The moral of the story don’t worry about being nice. Concentrate on being an effective evangelist. What good is it to do nice things for people but fail to give them the gospel. That’s loveless compassion, or as Jesus puts it in another context in Mark 8:36-37:
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels (Mark 8:36-38).”
Don’t be nice, be faithful. We can buy people clothes, food, and do good deeds but the greatest deed we can do, the greatest kindness we can show them, is to make the most of the opportunity and give them the straight gospel. What are you waiting for? Don’t be ashamed of God, don’t be ashamed of Jesus. What ARE you waiting for: stop making excuses if God brings you in contact with an unbeliever it is no accident. Share the Gospel with them.