A High Class Person

Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ ” – Amos 7:14-15.

When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” – John 1:47.

When Elizabeth I called Robert Cecil as her principal advisor, she gave him an ultimate compliment: “This judgment I have of you, that you will not be corrupted by any manner of gift . . . and that without respect of my private will you will give me that counsel which you think best.”

When Robert Morse died, his entire estate amounted to $59,000, after forty years as Director of Public Works in New York City. Billions of dollars had passed through his office.

Sam Rayburn refused to bill the taxpayers for trips other congressmen took for granted. He wouldn’t even accept expenses for out of town trips. At his death, after decades as one of the most powerful men in the United States Congress, his savings account totaled $15,000. These men had, as the king of France said, “come not to woo honor, but to wed it.”

Since God’s Word is a spiritual integer, incapable of being divided against itself, Christians seek a biblical faith, its absolutes their spiritual infrastructure. We will cut our suit to fit the cloth the Bible provides rather than stretch the Bible to cover our distended values. Since what is relative cannot always be relevant, we choose the immutable as our model. We want to wed, not just woo, honor—and all the absolutes that define a Christian.

Courtesy of Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations by Virgil Hurley © 1995 by Word, Incorporated.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV © 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by permission. All rights reserved.