Saturday, April 17, 2010

Campolo Hits Home.

An excerpt (again) from "What's So Amazing About Grace?" by Philip Yancey (Grace Avoidance, p. 201)

Author Tony Campolo, who makes a regular circuit as a chapel speaker on Christian college campuses, for a time used this provocation to make a point.

"The United Nations reports that over ten thousand people starve to death each day, and most of you don't give a s--t. However, what is even more tragic is that most of you are more concerned about the fact that I just said a bad word than you are about the fact that ten thousand people are going to die today."

The responses proved his point: in nearly every case Tony got a letter from the chaplain or president of the college protesting his foul language. The letters never mentioned world hunger.

One thing: this part hit home as it attacks each and everyone of us, in one way or another, and that includes Mr. Campolo. Another thing to notice here would be the use of the word 'tragic' to describe the audience's state of mind - when in fact it is more than tragic. He was being generous when he said it, when what he really meant is that we are being bastardly stubborn and self-centered. But we are not to bask in the evil-ness: we are simply called for repentance, that desperate, heart-piercing type of repentance.


Why is it so hard for us to make it an aim to put a smile on God's face each day? Won't that be a good question to ask ourselves from time to time?





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