• The Church Doesn't Need Squirts

  Contributed by Bret Toman on Jun 7, 2009 (message contributor)

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  Scripture:  None

  Tags:  Church Purpose Of

  Denomination: Baptist

THE CHURCH DOESN'T NEED SQUIRTS

Soren Kierkegaard once wrote about a town where a fireman lived. Everyone liked the fireman because he was a nice guy. He made it a habit to be gentle and kind, which was unusual for firemen, who were supposed to be tough.

There was a fire one day, and the fireman charged to the scene of the fire with his fellow firemen and heavy equipment. As they came toward the fire, much to their surprise and chagrin, they encountered between themselves and the flames about 200 townspeople. And each of them was standing there with a water pistol, aiming at the fire, going squirt, squirt, squirt.

The fireman asked, "What is going on here?" A spokesman for the group turned and said "Well, we all appreciate this wonderful work you’re doing in our community, and each of us has come to contribute in some small way to your work." Squirt. squirt.

The fireman said "I don’t get it. You’re crazy!"

"Oh we realize that we all could do more, couldn’t we folks?"

"Most definitely," everyone said,, "But we just wanted to offer this token of our support." Squirt, squirt.

"You don’t know what you’re doing!" Shouted the fireman.

"True, but you have to appreciate the fact that everyone is willing to offer whatever help they can," said the spokesman.

And everyone said "Amen!" and went squirt, squirt, squirt.

At that the fireman shouted, "Get out of here! This is no picnic, this is a fire, and a fire doesn’t require well-meaning people who come to make small contributions. A fire is a place where people come to give their lives!"