A new thing…

As I prepare my sermons often I have ideas, illustrations and stories, that just don’t fit for space, time or subject reasons. This drives me a little bonkers as it is often good stuff! So I thought, when this happens going forward, and now that I have recovered my password to access this page, I thought I would leave them here for you to ponder.

The first comes from a sermon by Len Sweet, professor and pastor.

Decades ago, a missionary named John Paton tried to translate the New Testament into the indigenous language of the people to whom he was sent to tell about Jesus. During his study of the language, he found that there was no word for "believe."

As the missionary struggled over how to translate the New Testament into a language without any word for believe, one of the natives dropped by and flung himself exhaustedly in a chair. Then he stretched out and rested his legs on another chair. Laying himself out full-length on the two chairs, he muttered some words about how good it felt to "lean his whole weight on" those chairs.

Instantly, John Paton wrote down the word used for "lean one's whole weight on." He knew he had discovered the precise word for "believe."

You try it. Reread your Bible, and every time you come to the word "believe," insert instead "lean his whole weight on."

Here's John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever shall lean his whole weight on him, may not perish but may have eternal life.

The world has a Savior we can "lean our whole weight on."