From time to time, I've gotten into discussions with atheists and agnostics alike about Christianity, and typically they demand proof about what they often call the 'Sky-daddy' that we follow. Oh, there's tons of evidence...cosmological, historical, archeological, and my personal fave, Bible prophecy that's currently batting a 1000. All that is great for taking my faith out into the marketplace of ideas and making my case for Jesus, but the ultimate proof of the Christian faith is in the lives of those who believe.
I can find no better example than in the life of Tavie. She was one of the senior members of our church. She passed away this past weekend at age 71. For all the time that Tavie was with us, she was a tireless servant for the Lord in everything she did for our church. If there was anything that needed doing, from bringing me a cup of coffee just they way I liked it as I was running the A/V for our children's church, to getting down and dirty with a major renovation of our fellowship hall, Tavie was there. She truly had a servant's heart. It will probably take 4 or 5 other people to cover all the things she did at the church. She had that much impact there.
As my agnostic and atheist acquaintences might ask, "For what?" What, indeed. Other than a little mention in an obituary and the appreciation from those who knew her, what was in it for Tavie? What drove her to be all the things she was to our church and everyone in it? Fame? Fortune? Power? Status? She certainly didn't attain any of those things while she was here. When you look at our world today, Tavie was going about it all wrong. Putting others first is a one-way ticket to Loserville in this day and age. No, people like Tavie aren't driven by those things at all. The only rational explanation for this failed effort to achieve any worldly success was her love for the Lord. It was He that set the world-changing example of washing feet as how we should act if we believe, and she followed that example everyday.
Oh, I suppose some would say she was misguided, or delusional. Maybe she was burdened with some guilt complex that drove her to deny self for others. Tell that to her husband John, who accepted Jesus just some three years ago. Tell that to the rest of her family. Tell it to those people that came by the church with no clothes to wear or food to eat and found Tavie there with her hand outstretched, day after day. Tell it to her Pastor, and while you're at it, just try telling that to me. No, the best proof we have that Christianity is real in the person of Jesus, is Tavie.
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