The Pizza Maker and the Surgeon

If my Hubby was not tending the gardens of Heaven, today would mark his 70th birthday. As I meander through the day, my heart re-listens to some of his comical, but never forgotten, wisdom. One of my favorites was his understanding that all careers/ jobs, be they successes or failures, are best measured by the scale of the significance of their outcome. I still hear his voice proclaiming “if a pizza maker ruins the dough, he can discard it and start over. No significant loss occurs. However, a surgeon is not allowed the solution of tossing the failure and freshly starting over”. For the pizza maker, opportunity and results are a luxury that can always be granted a do over. For the physician, outcomes do not get a replay but rather stand alone as only one chance to help render the miracle of God’s healing.

By now, I’m pretty sure you must be wondering where on earth am I going with this! Actually, I’m not going anywhere on earth. I am navigating a route from, and to, heaven for Christ’s disciples. When we, as Christ’s ambassadors, take up the role of representing God, defending Christianity and delivering spiritual food and health to others, are we pizza makers or members of the surgeon’s team? Honestly, I’m seeing a lot more dough thrown into a trash can than souls saved through M.D.’s (“M”essiah’s “D”isciples) hooking those in need to Heaven’s Healing Surgeon’s lifeline.

The question is when given the opportunity to touch another’s life for God, do we see ourselves as pizza makers or M.D.’s — “M”essiah’s “D”isciples? Who we see ourselves as, in truth, reflects not our profile but God’s image.

We live in a world where the vast majority are not seeking responsibility for their own needs, let alone the needs of others. None the less, God calls us to make a difference by being different than the world. We are charged to serve God, care for others and help change the earth from selfish to selfless; and all is to be done with God, in God and for God.

Satan loves for us to approach this calling with pizza dough in hand. On the contrary, God puts our hand in His and solely asks us to bring lost souls to Him, the powerful Physician who will cure all addictions, heal all afflictions and lovingly feed all His hungry flock Christ’s lifesaving bread and wine.

We are not commissioned to think of leading others to their Divine Maker as our being a maker of pizzas. No soul can, or should, ever be thrown away and another reached for. Our job is to value and lead all who are lost to Heaven’s Surgeon, who alone can save each and every soul in need of eternal life.

Thanks, Hubby, for using your sense of humor to remind me of my responsibility in the employment of helping lead lost souls to God’s redemption. Happy Birthday; you are loved and missed.

“So, we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God’!” (2 Corinthians 5:20) NLT