The world neither expects nor understands devotion to God. Non-Christians are actuated entirely by motives that are of and for self. When the unbeliever sees a believer looking to the Lord he turns his gaze heavenward, and seeing nothing but clouds, he thinks that there is something slightly wrong with the believer.
This fact was called to my attention by two incidents that revealed the incomprehension of the unsaved. I entered the dining car of my train and ordered breakfast. The waiter brought a half grapefruit and set it in front of me. I bowed my head to thank the Lord for it and was immedi ately interrupted by the waiter: "What's the matter with it? Isn't it all right?" I looked up at him and said, "It looks perfect to me." He replied, "But I saw you looking at it." "No," I answered. "I was merely thanking my heavenly Father that He had been so kind and loving as to create such things as grapefruit. Suppose that He had created us so that we were like donkeys, to have nothing but oats and hay, hay and oats." The waiter nodded and repeated, "I knew you had found something wrong with the grapefruit." The night before this incident, just before I had gotten on the train, the man who had charge of my meeting schedule had handed me some expense money which had been taken out of the offering just as the people had given it.
Included in the sum were two or three dollars in nickels and dimes. When I left the train in the morning I checked in at my hotel and went to the cashier's window to give up my pocketful of change for some currency. The girl looked at me with a broad grin and said, "Ah! The winner. Was it stud or draw?" I looked at the girl and replied, "As a matter of fact, I was not playing poker at all. This comes from a church offering and represents the love and sacrifice of people who put those very coins into the offering as a gift of thanksgiving to the Lord Jesus Christ for having saved their souls, and for having provided all their daily needs." She looked at the pile of coins in front of her with strange eyes, her hands suspended above it as though she were afraid to touch it.
Peter tells us that the unsaved "think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot" (I Peter 4:4). I was able to witness to the waiter and the cashier of the saving grace of God, and I thanked God for the grapefruit and the coins which had been the means of exalting His name. Christ was able to lead a soul to Himself by asking the woman of Samaria for a drink of water. Grapefruit, coins, water - and everything else in life - can be the means of glorifying our Lord.
1. How does John 15 and the parable of the Vine and the branches teach us about the dichotomy between the church and the world. 2. When we are treated differently how should the church respond? 3. The church has responded typically with what is called “culture wars” has this been a helpful approach or has it harmed the testimony of the church?