A Parable

There once was a King who called His faithful servants to Him and handed each one a paint brush. He instructed them to go into the neighboring country and paint each heart white.

The servants joyfully went about their assignment, painting every heart they came across.

But after a time, they began to notice that in this country fences were covered in graffiti, houses were old and worn down, curbs were dirty. 

“We have these brushes full of white paint. Why don’t we paint these run down, dirty things and make everyone’s life better?”  Suggested one of them.

So the servants set in to improve this country. And they did make a difference. Everything looked much prettier.

But after a time, they ran out of paint. So they went back to their King and asked Him for more.

With tears in His eyes, the king sadly shook His head.

“There is no more paint. You see, there was just enough in your brushes to paint every heart in that country white. Had you done what I told you to, not only would all the hearts be white, but the result would have been that everything else you wanted done would have happened, too. But now it’s too late.”

At the turn of the century the Christian church teamed up with those who thought the government knew better how to make decisions in people’s lives to fight “demon alcohol.” Massive amounts of energy went into this campaign, and alcohol was eventually outlawed. 

That was a disaster.

Those laws were repealed, but the truth is that alcohol consumption did drop and didn’t return to pre-prohibition levels until the 70’s.

And the difference in our society? All the evils that were supposed to be cured by getting rid of alcohol continued. They just continued sober instead of drunk. People were still going to hell. They were just doing it sober.

How different would our country have been if the Christians had simply stuck to the message of salvation? If all that energy had been put into bringing people to Christ instead of getting rid of alcohol?

The goals of a better country would have been achieved, plus people would be going to Heaven.

What issues are the church focusing on today instead of salvation? What fences are we painting now instead of hearts?