Acknowledgment can be a narcotic that dulls one’s need to do
something.
Example: Christmas has become too commercial. Just saying that, acknowledging
it, eases some of the guilt that might cause us to spend less on things and
more time on people.
Acknowledgment can be a narcotic that dulls one’s need to do
something.
Example: Christmas has become too commercial. Just saying that, acknowledging
it, eases some of the guilt that might cause us to spend less on things and
more time on people.
Example: I need to visit the person I saw yesterday. Just acknowledging assures
us that we are spiritually sensitive enough to notice others. That touch of
assurance may keep us near the truth of the statement but move us no further
toward making the visit.
Example: The world needs Christ. Just acknowledging that makes us feel better.
Our spirits are lifted, even if only so slightly, by this acknowledgment, so
we do not feel a drive to do something tangible about a lost world.
This narcotic effect of acknowledgment, strangely enough, can be the enemy
of goodness. One would think constantly talking about doing something would
bring about doing it, but it usually has the opposite effect.
Practically, a person who talks constantly about going on a diet usually does
not go on a diet. Or, this person says, “I am going on a diet . . . next
. . . ” Saying, “I am going on a diet,” especially at some magical
time in the future, makes the person feel better as he or she eats a piece of
cake.
The bottom line is, acknowledgment is essential for acting on a problem, but
discipline must transform acknowledgment into adequate action. Giving a verbal
acknowledgment means very little if it does not translate into doing something.
What is the point? The point is, hearing sermons and reading materials about
a lost world and verbally acknowledging that most of the people of the world
are lost, mean
almost nothing if that is not translated into action –
like giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for Foreign Missions.
Soren Kierkegaard, a German theologian, makes this point well in a little parable.
He tells of a flock of geese that found a pond so abundant with food and comfort
that the geese chose to stay there rather than migrate. They said they knew
they should fly north and said they intended to do just that the next winter
– but never did.
The old geese worried that the generation of younger geese who had always
lived on that pond would forget that they were wild geese. Every Sunday morning
at 11:00 the flock gathered to hear one of the older geese that had migrated
tell the other members of the flock about the wonder, excitement and challenges
of migrating. They talked about it with great passion but always stayed with
the comforts of the pond. But, they all felt better because they acknowledged
what they were supposed to be and do, even though they never did.
As we hear about the physical and spiritual needs of people around the world,
we will do well to remember the teaching of Scripture that says, “Be doers
of the word and not hearers (acknowledgment) only.”
Marry awareness and acknowledgment to doing. Translate your awareness and acknowledgment
into acting.
Make sure the doing includes giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for
International Missions. There really is a lost world.