THE CHRISTIAN’S SECRET SAUCE
By Christopher L. Scott
Moses Lake, Wash.
In a recent interview, NASCAR driver Jimmy Johnson revealed his “secret sauce” for his racing success. In his career, he won five straight NASCAR championships and later won two more which tied him with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr. But Jimmy had a “secret sauce” that he and his crew chief followed that led to their success.
It was testing. Jimmy and his team would drive to racetracks during the week and test their cars for hours at a time. They’d try different shocks in the car springs, different air pressures in the tires, or adjust the suspension higher or lower. He describes those testing trips to different race tracks as the “secret sauce” that led to his success.
For believers, we too have a secret sauce. Ours does not deal with practice in race cars. Ours is about love for others. Paul describes that love in the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians:
“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NASB)
When someone says something mean, we respond in love by being kind (even when we want to say something mean back at them). When someone fails to follow through on a commitment, we respond in love by offering them another chance (even when we want to explain how much the person disappointed us).
Last week I arrived at a coffee shop in which I had prearranged (and prepaid) for a large batch of coffee to be prepared for me to take to the public school staff next to our church. When I arrived at the coffee shop the coffee was not ready, I waited fifteen minutes for them to gather the coffee, cups, lids, stir sticks, creamer, and sugar together. All that stuff was supposed to happen before I arrived. When the young barista handed me the coffee fifteen minutes later I smiled and handed her a five-dollar bill as a personal tip. Love!
Love is our secret sauce that leads to our success as believers when we interact with the world and our community of believers.
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Christopher L. Scott, a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, is a pastor and freelance writer. Christopher L. Scott writes from Exeter, CA. Learn more about his writing ministry at ChristopherLynnScott.com.
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