Contributed by VBC Executive Director Ron McIntosh
You’ve often heard someone use the phrase, “Bless your heart.” It’s just another way of saying “You are an idiot.” It’s like the guy in the commercial who loads his barbeque from the grill on a plate on his patio and heads to the house—only to walk flush into the glass patio door with food flying everywhere. You can hear the echoes in the background…”Bless his heart.” Perhaps, it was the time I came down off the platform at a VBC graduation service and my foot got caught in between the stairs until I fell flat on my face, breaking my foot. OK, go ahead and say, it, “Bless his heart.” Maybe, its’ a woman whose ensemble doesn’t quite match, you look toward her and say …get ready…”Bless her heart.”
Interestingly, Acts 4 records such an incident, “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and took note they had been with Jesus.” (4:13) The word for “normal” in the NIV is the Greek term “idiotes” or idiots. These religious leaders are looking at these disciples and going, “Bless their hearts.”
It’s so interesting to me that I examined the top 25 movies of all time and 80% of them are about extraordinary people, doing extraordinary things. Christianity however, is about ordinary, normal (idiots) doing extraordinary things. So, for all of you who were voted Most Likely to Succeed, or Best Looking in your class, there is still hope for you. You just have to learn to be an idiot… an ordinary person just dumb enough to take God at His Word, to do something extraordinary.
The term extraordinary means, surpassing the norm (not great yet), breaking status quo (accepting things as they are), to exceed what is common, usual or mundane, life that is exceptional, remarkable, amazing, unimaginable → abundant. What did idiots who had been with Jesus do that was extraordinary? They healed the man lame from birth in Acts 3 (vs 1-10). What was the result, Acts 4:14, “But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say (to dispute them).”
What are the characteristics of an idiot for Christ?
- They are just dumb enough to take Him at His Word. Noah did it taking 120 years to build a boat, when no one had ever seen rain. (To critics: How long can you tread water?) Joshua was simple enough to shout at walls and watch them come down. Gideon blew a trumpet and confounded the enemy. Jehosophat praised God and the enemy slayed themselves.
- God’s idiots recognize that everything they have belongs to God and they give it at His request (Acts 4:32ff). These kinds of people realize that God’s resources are infinite and thus, are unafraid to give. It’s why Solomon sacrificed so many sheep and cattle that they couldn’t be counted (2 Chron. 5) and why he sacrificed twenty-two thousand cattle in dedicating the temple to the Lord, before the glory of God came. It’s why David gave 23 billion dollars of his wealth for the building of the temple (1 chron. 29). It is why the prophet could ask a widow for her last morsel of flour (he didn’t want a pancake; he wanted the widow to have an IHOP franchise). It is also why a widow would pour expensive oil on Jesus’ feet. I anticipate God pouring out end-time wealth. However, why would He put it in your hand if you’re not ready to put it at His feet?
- Thirdly, idiots attempt to do what others say is impossible. See Acts 4:29-34. I once sat across Oral Roberts’ desk and heard him say, “Ron, on my tombstone I want it to say, ‘He obeyed God.’” That is what idiots do…what He says.
Well, bless their hearts, do they still believe God’s Word? Rob Bell would say, “If Christians don’t stop quoting the Bible, they’ll be irrelevant.” I’m for one still naïve enough to take Him at His Word—-bless my heart!