A Touch of Madness
Friday, 13 February 2009 13:59 | Written by Barry Bryson | 
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The story goes that when Abraham Lincoln was told that General Ulysses S Grant was a hard drinker, the president wanted to know what Grant was drinking so he could supply it to his other generals. Of course Grant’s reputation for hard drinking was over-blown, and of course his hardscrabble generalling had nothing to do with his potable of choice. The point Lincoln was making was that a man as successful as Grant should not have to endure half-informed cracks from inferior officers. You don’t argue with success.In evangelism, success is not measured in numbers but in the scattering of the seed. Paul was a stranger to the kind of statistical reporting we expect from our over-worked missionaries- but he did have this to say:
Some, to be sure, preach Christ from envy and strife, and some from good will; the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; the former do it out of selfish ambition, wishing to cause me distress in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice, yes, and I will rejoice! (Philippians 1.15-18)
Paul follows this boldness by further saying that “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (v.21). What is his elixir, and where do I get it? I had a teacher in seminary who was known for asking everyone who crossed his path – meter readers, sky caps, dental hygienists – if they were Christians. He wasn’t a pest about it, but he always made the possibility of a conversation about the gospel available. Many folks who knew him found this off-putting and wished he would stop. He was certainly not surrounded by students eager for his time, like so many professors were. But he was sowing the seed and winning a few for Christ.
I heard of a preacher in another state a few years back, a little younger than I am, who was institutionalized temporarily and asked to leave the ministry. It seems he was making a pest of himself – especially to older people, people who were terminally ill, sometimes people in hospitals he never met before. He was insistent they listen to the gospel, insistent they respond to it. He wouldn’t be restrained. So, he had to be institutionalized. The person telling me the tale was as full of shock as of sympathy for the poor fellow. I though, understood the logic of it, and felt shamed by my comparative lackadaisical lack of urgency.
Yes, my fellow evangelist may have been suffering from a degree of madness. Maybe his brain chemistry had become unbalanced, maybe a few synapses had short circuited – or maybe his degree of sanity was startlingly and discomfortingly high. Whatever the reason, I’d like a little of that divine madness.
It is that breaking of the evangelistic ice with a stranger that I have been hesitant of doing since I was twelve and my granddad used to drag me door-knocking. It was something he did with such ease, and often such success. Early on I gave myself a pass that it just wasn’t my “gift” to do “cold-calling”. Opportunities come wrapped up with their own empowerments, however. God doesn’t ask us to do anything He doesn’t enable us to do through his power.
And so I pray for a touch of this madness, this desperate urgency for souls that transcends any fear. It will be my prayer for you, too.
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