As We Really Are

Scripture References: 1 Samuel 23:22-23; Matthew 22:16

In talking to Brutus in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Cassius says, “Therefore, good Brutus, be prepar’d to hear; and since you know you cannot see yourself so well as by reflection, I, your glass will modestly discover to yourself that of yourself which you yet know not of.”

After studying in America for a year, a group of eight foreign exchange students gave their impressions of America and its citizens. A Japanese student was struck by our open, outgoing nature—we want to know everything immediately. A Belgian doctor was struck by the ease with which we share our lives. However, he noted, it was superficial; the same people who talked so freely with him on one occasion would see him another time and say nothing. Since American institutions have a poor reputation in Europe, a Finnish teacher worried that his degree would not be accepted as authentic back home, though he doubled his course load and completed his M.A. in one year.

No Brutus needs a Cassius more than the local church. The good opinions we hold of ourselves (few churches hold bad opinions of themselves) are generally discounted by strangers. Christians should not ask doctrinal questions of outsiders. We must do market research for information about ourselves from the people we are trying to reach for Christ. Christians need to be harmless as doves while they are wise as serpents.

Courtesy of Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations by Virgil Hurley © 1995 by Word, Incorporated.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.