Running for the Prize

“But what is worship? thought I. Do you suppose now, Ishmael, that the magnanimous God of heaven and earth—pagans and all included—can possibly be jealous of an insignificant bit of black wood? Impossible! But what is worship?—to do the will of God—THAT is worship. And what is the will of God?—to do to my fellow man what I would have my fellow man to do to me—THAT is the will of God. Now, Queequeg is my fellow man. And what do I wish that this Queequeg would do to me? Why, unite with me in my particular Presbyterian form of worship. Consequently, I must then unite with him in his; ergo, I must turn idolater.”

I stumbled on this passage in Moby Dick, the classic from the Herman Melville written in the 1850’s, a book I haven’t read and thought I should, since I have more free time recently. It reminded me of Paul’s testimony in first Corinthians 9 where he says “I have become all things to all people, so that by all possible means I might save some.”  Makes me wonder how many opportunities I’ve missed to share the gospel because I wasn’t comfortable or wanted them to conform to my views of what is proper.  Am I running the race to win the prize or just tagging along?

Just wondering.  Books will do that sometimes.  For 88.3 The Journey, I’m General Manager Mike Agee.