Wednesday, 7/31/19 – Pressing on…

“What would you do…”

A Klondike bar is a chocolate-coated square of vanilla ice cream first invented in the 1920s by the Isaly Dairy Company of Mansfield, Ohio. It was named after the Klondike River in the Yukon, a name eventually purchased by Good Humor-Breyers, a part of Unilever.

The product was marketed in the U.S. and Canada and was well-known for its clever ads which appeared in the 1980s in which passersby were asked “What would you do for a Klondike bar?” and depicted people willing to do all sorts of silly things in exchange for the frozen treat.

“Would you act like a chicken for a Klondike bar?”

This past Sunday our guest speaker at Lincoln Baptist Church, Greg Gordon, shared with us the true story of resolute atheist Charles Peace, a famous 19th-century English burglar and murderer. Peace had evaded capture for years but was eventually caught and condemned to death by hanging.

The morning of his execution, Peace was led to the gallows in the company of prison officials and a priest who read aloud routinely and sleepily about the fires of hell. “Do you believe what you are reading?” asked Peace. “Well, yes, I guess I do.” came the priest’s reply.

“Sir,” said Peace, “if I believed what you and the church of God say that you believe, even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it, if need be, on hands and knees and think it worth while living, just to save one soul from an eternal hell like that!”

“Do you believe…?” Peace asked.

Three times Jesus asked Peter a similarly piercing question, “Do you love me?” Twice Peter was quick to answer in characteristic knee-jerk fashion, “Yes, Lord!” We too may we tempted to spout, “Well of course!” But we may well do to ponder the question awhile longer.

Oswald Chambers once wrote, “The Lord’s questions always reveal the true me to myself.” Our best answer must turn the question back to Jesus, “Lord, Thou knowest.” (see John 21:15-17). Only God knows the truth of our hearts.

Jeremiah exclaimed, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9).
Christ behaved knowingly, “Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for He knew all people… He knew what was in each person.” (John 2:24, 25).
Paul acknowledged his own self-ignorance, “My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.” (1 Cor, 4:4).

O Lord, show us our true hearts, then show us Yours.

What would you do to save a soul from Hell?

May we be fishers of men with the passion of Christ’s heart.

“Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.” (Jude 22, 23).

Press on…