We tend to be perfectionists as Believers. It is easy to conclude that if God wants our best effort, then we dare not step out to do anything in representing God unless we are guaranteed a win. I believe G.K. Chesterton was inspired when he penned this thought:
“Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.”
There is a time to step out of our place of safety.
“I’m skeptical of cold, thin and hard.” – G.K. Chesterton
He said this in the context of debating George Bernard Shaw, who was very proper, calculated, thought through in his communication style. Shaw was an avowed Atheist who often took on Chesterton, a committed Catholic Christian during the World War I conflict in England. Chesterton was a bachelor. He was a bit frumpy. His clothes were usually wrinkled. His mustache was rarely trimmed correctly. He was significantly overweight. Once a woman asked him why he wasn’t “Out on the front” as others his age were during the war. He turned sideways to show his tummy and said, “Madam, I am out in the front!” What Chesterton lacked in the precision Shaw displayed, he made up for in his passion, conviction, not to mention his own brand of thinking on his feet. Above all else, he was comfortable taking risks.
Somehow we have gotten to the point in American Evangelicalism where we view the taking of risks as an unnecessary option. We are against all that has to do with stepping out on any sort of ice—thick or thin. But the risk is part of progress in the Kingdom of God. If we hope to effectively co-labor with the Holy Spirit we must grow used to being in a place of holy discomfort.
Put another way, we won’t be successful in bringing others to Christ unless we are willing to be uncomfortable. How about it? Are you willing? The ice is fine!
Seems that I’ve heard it in a sermon from the past, by someone we both know, Go to market with what you have. I think that can pretty much be put in quotes, but it was many years ago, so I will hold back on the punctuation.
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