[lesson from roosevelt]

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

This famous quote from our 26th President, Teddy Roosevelt is one of my favorite of all time. Unfortunately, most people don't take it for anything more than a dramatic phrasing of words. They fail get the point. They miss the benefit.

I find this quote to be incredibly relevant to the Christian culture as a whole. Why? Because most of us have become arm-chair Christians. We criticize everything. We criticize the film industry, and how liberal and secular it has become, we criticize the media in how bias and dis-honest the journalist have become, we criticize politics, the court, sports, and everything else under the sun. We blame it all on "them." "Them" being whoever we want them to be at the time.

Yet we do nothing.

Did we ever stop to consider that so many of these things have gone downhill so far because we stopped trying? That the film industry became so corrupt because honest people never got involved? That bad laws have been passed because morally strong politicians didn't step forward? Why have we never looked to our own ranks, and discovered that few of us are engaging with the culture?

Even worse, as the second part of the quote alludes to, we find Christians, doing absolutely nothing, that begin to criticize other Christians efforts saying "I could have done better."

It reminds me, sadly of a cartoon that I once saw. The four boxes of the strip portrayed different stages of a young man's life. In the first, it shows him as a young boy watching an acrobat on TV, and the boy says, "I could have done better." In the second box, it shows him as a teenager watching a basketball game, and he says, "I could have done better." In the third box, it shows him as an adult, watching a politician giving a stump speech and he says, "I could have done better." Finally, in the last box, it shows the man's tomb stone. On it are written the words, "He could have done better."

Now, please understand, I'm not writing this to condemn anyone or say that all the problems today are our fault. I only wish to shed light on our inaction. Inaction that, if reversed, could lead to positive changes in this world for God's glory.

Are you willing? To strive to make a difference is no small thing. But, remember the parable of the rich man, who gave his silver to his servants to invest? One of them didn't want to risk defeat. He didn't want to risk losing his master's silver. So he did nothing. We all know what his master told him.

Too many of us in the Christian community are that servant. Full to the brim with the gifts and blessings that God has given us, but so unwilling and reluctant to use them.

So, what will your master say?