Proverbs 25:11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.
August 1978. I was 28 years old and a brand new Christian who had gotten saved by reading “Good News for Modern Man”, a popular Bible paraphrase. I figured if I was a Christian I better go get a real Bible so Jane and I headed out one night for the Lamplighter Christian Book Store near our home. When we got there I picked out a Bible (New American Standard – I knew nothing about Bibles I just liked the way it looked and felt!)
While we were there I was confronted for the first time with a vast array of Christian books – a genre I didn’t even know existed until that night. So I decided to pick out a couple to read. Now that was an amazing thing in itself since reading wasn’t exactly my cup of tea. Until I graduated from high school the only book I had ever read in my life was All About Dinosaurs. I knew absolutely no Christian authors so it is interesting (God’s kind providence?) that the two books I selected were The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges and The Radical Christian by Arthur Wallis a man involved in apostolic ministry in Great Britain.
Little did I know that the latter book would contain some words fitly spoken that would affect me for the rest of my life. I wanted to share them with you in hopes they would have a similar effect on you.
“If any man would be a success in life, find out what God is doing and throw yourself into it wholeheartedly.”
What profound words for a young man who had wasted his life on foolishness and trivialities. As I began reading that brand new Bible (up till the time I purchased it I had never read a word in a real Bible my entire life) and listening to teaching I soon discovered that what God was doing was publishing the gospel to the ends of the earth through His church. So I decided to throw myself into that wholeheartedly.
I have never regretted that decision even a single day. I pray that by God’s grace I can keep doing what God is doing till the day I die. I’m glad we’re doing it together! May our meditations on these words inspire us to even more wholehearted devotion.
[posted by Mickey Connolly]
