What matters is not what we say we believe, but what we do because of what we truly believe.
I was listening to the radio this morning, and heard a story about a man guest-teaching a Sunday school class. He had been asked to teach in a way that no one would forget.
He brought a giant pendulum into the class room. Assembling the class, he had the main teacher sit in a chair placed in the path of the oversized pendulum. He pulled on the pendulum, as if to start its swing, drawing it close to the chair. "According to the Law of the Pendulum," he explained, "it is impossible for the pendulum, on its return swing, to swing past the point I released it from. If the pendulum is defective, it will work less well, and will not swing anywhere close to the point I released it from." Then he asked the nervous man, "Do you believe in the Law of the Pendulum?"
Sweat beading down his forehead, the man clutched his chair, and nodded. The guest teacher looked around at the class, and then released the pendulum.
The man sat in the chair as the pendulum swung away from him. But as the pendulum began its return swing, and loomed toward the chair, the man jumped off and ran away from the oversize weight.
What a way to teach a class!
What we do matters a whole lot more than what we say. We might claim to believe something, but when we reach the point that those beliefs will practically impact our lives, sometimes we discover we don't actually believe those things at all.
I was listening to the radio this morning, and heard a story about a man guest-teaching a Sunday school class. He had been asked to teach in a way that no one would forget.
He brought a giant pendulum into the class room. Assembling the class, he had the main teacher sit in a chair placed in the path of the oversized pendulum. He pulled on the pendulum, as if to start its swing, drawing it close to the chair. "According to the Law of the Pendulum," he explained, "it is impossible for the pendulum, on its return swing, to swing past the point I released it from. If the pendulum is defective, it will work less well, and will not swing anywhere close to the point I released it from." Then he asked the nervous man, "Do you believe in the Law of the Pendulum?"
Sweat beading down his forehead, the man clutched his chair, and nodded. The guest teacher looked around at the class, and then released the pendulum.
The man sat in the chair as the pendulum swung away from him. But as the pendulum began its return swing, and loomed toward the chair, the man jumped off and ran away from the oversize weight.
What a way to teach a class!
What we do matters a whole lot more than what we say. We might claim to believe something, but when we reach the point that those beliefs will practically impact our lives, sometimes we discover we don't actually believe those things at all.
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