Imagine the stock market dropped 50 percent overnight.
If you aren’t into stocks, imagine your home’s value plunged: when you woke up it was worth half of what it was the night before.
Either of these changes would be concerning. You’d wonder what to do, and develop some strategy to cope with your alarming new reality.
Yet, sometimes major changes aren’t alarming at all.
Here’s an example: once I went to the airport to get a family member. His flight was delayed so I went to Walmart to pass time. Just inside the entrance—the first thing they wanted me to see—was merchandise marked down 50% overnight.
It was Valentine’s candy.
Absolutely nobody was alarmed at the dramatic price change. Why would they be? It’s a seasonal item and the price always drops after peak season.
Keep in mind: the candy wasn’t bad. The quality hadn’t diminished. The only difference was demand. None of the candy makers were worried either. They aren’t asking “What do we have to change about our candy since it isn’t as popular today as it was February 14th.
The apostle Paul knew interest in the Gospel is also “seasonal” (2 Timothy 4:2). Sometimes people are very interested, sometimes they barely care. But Timothy was to keep on proclaiming the message whether interest was high or low. There was no reason to be alarmed.
The message is never the problem.
The Gospel is just as powerful (Romans 1:16) today as it ever was; its quality never diminishes. What fluctuates is the level of interest people have in it.
Since the quality isn’t the problem, there’s no need to try to “change” the message. Instead we’ll just stick with the Gospel, never alarmed by what season it is.
Give it some thought,
John Allan