I'm busy right now, aren't you? Lynne just got out of surgery yesterday and is recuperating well--she had a hysterectomy as a pre-emptive to cancer that has been gentically correlated to her family. Both of us are fried, and so we are watching lots of inane TV.
I'm amazed at the number of commercials that advertize something and then say, "Call Now!" breathlessly. Have you ever "called now"?? Does anyone? I never have. The closest I came was a call from me and Stephen the night of the September 11 concert to pledge money. Even then, we waited and discussed for about an hour before calling.
Why the rush? Why not an honest pitch, followed by an appeal to "write down this number, discuss it with your spouse and your dogs, and then, if you feel so inclined, call us. We'd be happy to have your business..."? My bet is that buyer's remorse is proportional to the speed with which one obeys the call to "call now." For me, the more frenetic the pitch to call, the more certain I am NOT to call. Sometimes I even say out loud, "No. I'm not calling."
There is a spiritual insight in this about decision making--I'll bet you know what it is. If you figure it out, call me up. But don't call now. I'm busy;-)
3 comments:
Funny post Scott - thanks! Love reading the thoughts on the site. Praying much for Lynne!
Scott, how you pull a deep insight out of an infomercial, I don't know, but thanks for a great post, I enjoyed thinking about it.
Scott, what a great post!
I have three takes on what "call now" could mean spiritually:
1. In the "campaign" mode of making disciples, we didn't count the cost seriously with people and they couldn't process their lives in a week to hold to their decision for a life time. The exceptions who stayed faithful are in the ministry (Darin, At, AlexW). This is from overemphasizing Mark 1:14-19 (calling of the first disciples) without considering the accounts in Luke 5:1-11 and John 1:35-43 where Jesus clearly won Peter's friendship before calling him to a lifetime commitment. We would do well to do the same!
2. God wants us to "call now" in prayer to him (Jer 29:12) and he will answer.
3. Acts tells us to "call on the name of the Lord" for salvation. Unfortunately, this has a lot less meaning in today's society where the names of God and Jesus have been stripped of their significance. But calling on God's name (YHWH) was a big deal to the Jews to whom Peter preached. And today when someone is baptized into Christ, we know they are calling on the name of the Lord to save them from their many sins.
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