Well Done Good and Faithful Servant

There was a certain Professor of Religion named Dr. Christianson, a studious man who taught at a small college in the Western United States. Dr. Christianson taught the required survey course in Christianity at this particular institution. Every student was required to take this course his or her freshman year regardless of his or her major. Although Dr. Christianson tried hard to communicate the essence of the gospel in his class, he found that most of his students looked upon the course as nothing but required drudgery. Despite his best efforts, most students refused to take Christianity seriously.

This year, Dr. Christianson had a special student named Steve. Steve was only a freshman, but was studying with the intent of going onto seminary for the ministry. Steve was popular, he was well liked, and he was an imposing physical specimen. He was now the starting center on the school football team, and was the best student in the professor’s class.

One day, Dr. Christianson asked Steve to stay after class so he could talk with him. "How many push-ups can you do?"
Steve said, "I do about 200 every night."
200? That’s pretty good, Steve," Dr. Christianson said. Do you think you could do 300?"

Steve replied, "I don’t know... I’ve never done 300 at a time."

"You don’t have to do them all at once." said Dr. Christianson. “Can you do 300 in sets of 10? I have a class project in mind and I need you to do about 300 push-ups in sets of ten for this to work. Can you do it? I need you to tell me you can do it," said the professor.

Steve said, "Well... I think I can...yeah, I can do it."

Dr. Christianson said, "Good! I need you to do this on Friday. Let me explain what I have in mind."

Friday came and Steve got to class early and sat in the front of the room. When class started, the professor pulled out a big box of donuts. These weren’t the normal kinds of donuts, they were the extra fancy BIG kind, with cream centers and frosting swirls. Everyone was pretty excited it was Friday, the last class of the day, and they were going to get an early start on the weekend with a party in Dr. Christianson’s class.

Dr. Christianson went to the first girl in the first row and asked, "Cynthia, do you want to have one of these donuts?"

Cynthia said, "Yes."

Dr. Christianson then turned to Steve and asked, "Steve, would you do ten push-ups so that Cynthia can have a donut?"

"Sure." Steve jumped down from his desk to do a quick ten. Then Steve again sat in his desk. Dr. Christianson put a donut on Cynthia’s desk. Dr. Christianson then went to Joe, the next person, and asked, "Joe, do you want a donut?"

Joe said, "Yes."

Dr. Christianson asked, "Steve would you do ten push-ups so Joe can have a donut?" Steve did ten push-ups, Joe got a donut. And so it went, down the first aisle, Steve did ten pushups for every person before they got their donut. And down the second aisle he went, till he came to Scott. Scott was on the basketball team, and in as good condition as Steve. He was very popular and never lacking for female companionship.

When the professor asked, "Scott do you want a donut?"

Scott’s reply was, "Well, can I do my own pushups?"

Dr. Christianson said, "No, Steve has to do them."

Then Scott said, "Well, I don’t want one then."

Dr. Christianson shrugged and then turned to Steve and asked,

"Steve, would you do ten pushups so Scott can have a donut he doesn’t want?" With perfect obedience Steve started to do ten pushups.

Scott said, "HEY! I said I didn’t want one!"

Dr. Christianson said, "Look, this is my classroom, my class, my desks, and these are my donuts. Just leave it on the desk if you don’t want it." And he put a donut on Scott’s desk. Now by this time, Steve had begun to slow down a little. He just stayed on the floor between sets because it took too much effort to be getting up and down. You could start to see a little perspiration coming out around his brow. Dr. Christianson started down the third row. Now the students were beginning to get a little angry.

Dr. Christianson asked Jenny, "Jenny, do you want a donut?"

Sternly, Jenny said, "No."

Then Dr. Christianson asked Steve, "Steve, would you do ten more Push-ups so Jenny can have a donut that she doesn’t want?" Steve did ten. Jenny got a donut.

By now, a growing sense of uneasiness filled the room. The students were beginning to say "No" and there were all these uneaten donuts on the desks. Steve also had to really put forth a lot of extra effort to get these pushups done for each donut. There began to be a small pool of sweat on the floor beneath his face, his arms and brow were beginning to get red because of the physical effort involved.

Dr. Christianson asked Robert, who was the most vocal unbeliever in the class, to watch Steve do each push up to make sure he did the full ten pushups in a set because he couldn’t bear to watch all of Steve’s work for all of those uneaten donuts. He sent Robert over to where Steve was so Robert could count the set and watch Steve closely. Dr. Christianson started down the fourth row.

The bell rang and Dr. Christianson told all of the students to stay in their seats. Some students in the hall saw Steve doing pushups and wandered in and sat down on the steps along the radiators that ran down the sides of the room. When the professor realized this, he did a quick count and saw that now there were 34 students in the room. He started to worry if Steve would be able to make it. Dr. Christianson went on to the next person and the next and the next. Near the end of that row, Steve was really having a rough time. He was taking a lot more time to complete each set.

Steve asked Dr. Christianson, "Do I have to make my nose touch on each one?"

Dr. Christianson thought for a moment, "Yes. You must pay the full price for each donut." And Dr. Christianson went on. A few moments later, Jason, a recent transfer student, came to the
room and was about to come in when all the students yelled in one voice, "NO! Don’t come in! Stay out!"

Jason didn’t know what was going on. Steve picked up his head and said, "No, let him come."
Professor Christianson said, "You realize that if Jason comes in you will have to do ten pushups for him?"

Steve said, "Yes, let him come in. Give him a donut"

Dr. Christianson said, "Okay, Steve, I’ll let you get Jason’s out of the way right now. Jason, do you want a donut?"

Jason, new to the room hardly knew what was going on. "Yes," he said, "give me a donut."

"Steve, will you do ten push-ups so that Jason can have a donut?"

Steve did ten pushups very slowly and with great effort. Jason, bewildered, was handed a donut and sat down. Dr. Christianson finished the fourth row, then started on those visitors seated by the heaters. Steve’s arms were now shaking with each push-up in a struggle to lift himself against the force of gravity. His back was swayed, not straight. His waist barely cleared the floor. Sweat was profusely dropping off of his face and, by this time, there was no sound except his heavy breathing, there was not a dry eye in the room.

The very last two students in the room were two young women, both cheerleaders, and very popular. Dr. Christianson went to Linda, the second to last, and asked, "Linda, do you want a doughnut?"

Linda knew that no matter what she said, Steve would have to do ten more pushups. She said, very sadly, "No, thank you."

Professor Christianson quietly asked, "Steve, would you do ten push-ups so that Linda can have a donut she doesn’t want?" Grunting from the effort, Steve did ten very slow pushups for Linda.
Then Dr. Christianson turned to the last girl, Susan. "Susan, do you want a donut?"

Susan, with tears flowing down her face, began to cry. "Dr. Christianson, why can’t I help him?"

Dr. Christianson, with tears of his own, said, "No, Steve has to do it alone, I have given him this task and he is in charge of seeing that everyone has an opportunity for a donut whether they want it or not. When I decided to have a party this last day of class, I looked at my grade book. Steve, here is the only student with a perfect grade. Everyone else has failed a test, skipped class, or offered me inferior work. Steve told me that in football practice, when a player messes up he must do push-ups. I told Steve that none of you could come to my party unless he paid the price by doing your push ups. He and I made a deal for your sakes.

Steve, would you do ten push-ups so Susan can have a donut?" As Steve very slowly finished his last pushup, with the understanding that he had accomplished all that was required of him, having done 350 pushups, his arms buckled beneath him and he fell to the floor.

Dr. Christianson turned to the room and said. "And so it was, that our Savior, Jesus Christ, on the cross, plead to the Father, ’into thy hands I commend my spirit.’ With the understanding that He had done everything that was required of Him, he yielded up His life. And like some of those in this room, many of us leave the gift on the desk, uneaten."

Two students helped Steve up off the floor and to a seat, physically exhausted, but wearing a thin smile. "Well done, good and faithful servant," said the professor.

Are You A Chicken or an Eagle?

A farmer was walking through the forest one day when he found a young eagle that was hurt. The farmer saved the eagle from the dangers of the forest. He took it home and made it a nice safe place on his porch. It made such a mess that he put it in his chicken lot. The eagle soon learned to eat and behave like the chickens that he lived with every day. One day a Forest Ranger passed by the farm and asked why it was that the king of all birds is living in the barnyard with the chickens. The farmer explained what had happened. It was no longer a great eagle of the wild outdoors but a tame chicken.

"It must have the heart of an eagle," replied the Ranger. He lifted the eagle toward the sky and encouraged it to fly. The eagle was confused. He did not know who he was, and seeing his chicken friends he jumped down to be with them again.

Grace is a word that means Gods love, compassion and favor that is given to us freely. It cost us nothing. Because God gives his compassion, love and favor freely we should freely return it to him and others. Grace can be seen in Jesus’ death on the cross. Grace can be seen in the godly way we treat each other. Grace can be seen in the purity of God.

A German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, coined a phrase “cheap grace.”

I think cheap grace is when we are changed into eagles but still hang out in the chicken lot.

Cheap grace is that kind of relationship with Jesus that finds us able to accept the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross with an easy joy. Cheap grace finds us able to fit Jesus into our lives without having to change anything in our life. Cheap grace finds us satisfied with a Jesus that takes away any real responsibility for changing our lives. Cheap grace finds itself reduced to words and ideas and hardly ever finds itself translated into a tangible form that someone can feel and benefit from. Cheap grace covers over our sins instead of cleansing us of our sins. Cheap grace allows us to continue doing our sin and not be pricked in our soul because of it. Cheap grace allows us to see our sin as OK because we re-interpret the principles of the Holy Scripture.

Cheap grace is not to see what God intended for when he created us, nor is it the purity of life that we are suppose to be leading.

Jesus sees everything through the lens of God's plan. Jesus always pointed us back to Gods original plan for us and away from where we are.

The Ranger took the eagle to a high mountain and walked out on a towering ledge. There he held the king of the birds high above him and encouraged him to fly. The eagle looked back towards the chicken lot and then up to the sky. Then all of a sudden a giant eagle soared from behind a mountain peak on a mighty wind and was passing just above the Ranger and the chicken lot eagle. As the giant eagle passed, the eagle slowly stretched his wings. The Earth bound eagle realized his strength and was inspired by the giant eagle that was soaring on the wind effortlessly. His heart started beating fast and pumped the eagle blood to the tips of his wings. Inspired within his soul the chicken lot eagle stretched and with a triumphant cry leaped into the air, caught the thermal rising and soared away finally whole.

What are you a chicken or an eagle? Do you want cheap grace or true grace? Do you want to scratch around in the chicken lot or soar on eagles wings?

Grace is free but it isn’t cheap. Our grace is because Jesus died on the cross for us. His death took the stench and scratching around in the dirt of the chicken lot and made us soar in the high heaven where it is cool, clean and the air is fresh.

Are you a chicken or an eagle?

Seeking All Things

Seeking All Things

I Col. 1:16
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth...

Can you remember the last time you stood alone late at night and watched the stars? God’s handiwork can be so far from us and yet as close as a quiet moment in the backyard. Do you ever stop to think that you are seeing the same stars that comforted King David, Michelangelo and Christopher Columbus? The stars were placed on the day God created the Heavens, just so you could find a little peace, right now.
So many waste their life losing the rat race, while searching for peace, while ignoring all the avenues God has created just so you can stop for a moment and find Peace in His presence. His Peace is before you in all things and at all times. The night sky holds a million secrets and waits for you to step away from the third rail of this hectic world and reach for His hand.
Stop the treadmill! Pull the power cord of your type “A” existence and hear the footsteps of the Creator, as He waits on you, tonight.
Gracious God and Heavenly Creator. Give us the courage to stop racing long enough to hear your voice when we gaze in wonder at your stars.