There’s no better way to make a point than the use of an analogy. You know, when someone explains something using different examples to express similarities. And there’s no one who uses analogies better than a church pastor.
Pastor Andy Harris of The Church of the Cross in Haughton, Louisiana, shared a story on his Facebook page about a woman who made the decision to leave her church after she was burned by some others in the congregation—sound familiar?
It’s not stated whether or not Pastor Andy’s story was a real-life example, but its reliability and the analogy that it paints is enough to sell us on its message either way. His viral post has now been shared over 220,000 times.
As the story goes, a woman approached her pastor to inform him that she’d no longer be attending his church.
Perplexed by her decision, the pastor pressed her as to why.
“Ah! I saw a woman gossiping about another member; a man that is a hypocrite; the worship team living wrong; people looking at their phone during service; among so many other things wrong in your church,” she replied.
The pastor was sad to hear her reasoning, but not surprised, as he’s heard it all before. That’s why he let her go. But not before she did one final thing for him. “But before you go, do me a favor: Take a full glass of water and walk around the church three times without spilling a drop on the ground. Afterward, leave the church if you desire.”
An odd request to say the least, but the woman knew it would be a piece of cake. She followed his instructions, walked three times around the church with her full glass of water, and returned to him—task completed.
The pastor prompted her with just one more thing before she left: “Before you leave I want to ask you one more question. When you were walking around the church, did you see anyone gossiping?”
She told him, “no.”
Then he asked if she’d spotted any hypocrites, or come across anyone on their phones.
Again the woman replied, “no.”
Then the pastor offered up this perspective-shattering, thought-provoking analogy that would leave even some nonbelievers shouting “amen.”
“You were focused on the glass, to make sure you didn’t stumble and spill any water. It’s the same with our life. When we keep our eyes on Jesus, we don’t have time to see the mistakes of others. We will reach out a helping hand to them and concentrate on our own walk with the Lord.”
And that my friends, is a good lesson for us all!