Washington -- Graffiti from the 1800s discovered by workers renovating the Washington Monument has quite a different tone from that usually found today on the sides of buildings and subway cars. "Whoever is the human instrument under God in the conversion of one soul, erects a monument to his own memory loftier and enduing (sic) than this," reads the inscription which can now be viewed by visitors to the monument.
It is signed BFB. No one knows who that is, or who left the small drawings and 19th-century dates on other walls.
The markings in the lobby of the monument were covered over when it was decorated at the turn of the century. They were found when workers removed marble wainscoting as part of a year-long $500,000 renovation that was just completed.
We are so selfish to the point of wanting to take credit for leading someone to Jesus. To me, it just taints the whole thing. Why? Because it is "given" to those who know Jesus and it is only accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit. All glory to God. I follow an awesome pianist by the name of Jesus Molina. He points out that his name is not Jesus, as in the Lord, but Jesus'. When you see Jesus' play you will almost always see him wearing a t-shirt that says "All glory to God." He says that his mom told him he had a great talent given to him by God and he must always glorify God with that talent, thus the shirt.
We have been given "such a great salvation." This salvation cannot be hidden through fear or a lack of faith. This salvation is "who we are" and it has to be given away to others we may meet along the way. One disciple named Phillip did this in Acts 8:26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is [e]desert. 27 So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”31 And he said, “How can I unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 The place in the Scripture which he read was this: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He opened not His mouth. 33 In His humiliation His justice was taken away, And who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth.” 34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. 36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” 37 Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.”
And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
Phillip answered the call and guess what? All Glory to God, the Ethiopian is saved! Let the natural be the natural and be confident in your faith to the point of "pointing" everyone you meet to Jesus and All Glory to God. No glory to me or anyone else, but Jesus. Also, don't cheat by saying "God led me to this person and I shared the gospel with them, and praise God they got saved, What happened there is you just took some of the credit and gave partial glory to God and partial glory to you. Don't worry about telling the details, just tell that Jesus saved someone and that is it...And on to the next one! Keep your focus on Giving All Glory to God!! Because no one else deserves the glory for salvation we cannot keep to ourselves.
The Pilgrimage Continues...
David Warren
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