The Message and the Messenger
A pastor friend of mine was going over his message, preparing for Sunday worship. His daughter was busy at a computer just outside of his home office.
Slowly the door opened and in walked his daughter. “Here, Daddy,” she said as she handed him her memory verse.
“Oh, honey,” he said, “a nice typing job, and one of my favorite verses—John 3:16.” He handed it back for her to sign so he could save it.
She spoke loudly as she signed it, “BY …” she paused. “No, not BY … but FROM, me.”
In considering my friend’s story and what his little girl wrote, I smiled and thought, “That’s right. The message is God’s and we are only the messengers. It is by God and from us.”
We should remember that when we become boastful or feel spiritually superior to our neighbor. We should remember that when we feel the weight of the message and so unworthy to proclaim it. We should remember that when a messenger we respect and look up to falters. The message and the messenger are not the same. True, the messenger affects how the message is received, but we should never make them one. The messenger, no matter how righteous or virtuous, will never be without flaw.
