When You Think You've Arrived

James 4:17

King James Version (KJV)

¹⁷ Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Pastor Llewellyn served three churches when I knew him. When I first met him he was very leery of me. I think he took the obvious devil in me very seriously. But over time he came to accept me. In fact we became very good friends. I was in college, half way around the world from home, and I would often spend a weekend in his home.

His car of choice was a little VW bug that was probably the first new car he had ever owned. He drove fast. I would often think that if his guardian angel didn’t get into the car he would never be able to catch up with him. Llewellyn had to drive this way. He preached at all three country churches nearly every Sabbath morning. He had a service in one of them from 8:30 to 9:30. Then he would jump into the little bug and burn out of there to the next church that met from 10:00 to 11:00. When he arrived, the church would have already sung the opening hymn, and he would slide into the pastor’s seat just in time to stand up and preach the sermon. Leaving there he would race to the third church and arrive just in time to preach there, too.

He loved emotional stories and would often have to wipe his eyes when he came to the crisis. He loved music and sang with an excellent bass voice. He sang not only for special music but also would sing in an appropriate part of his sermon. He encouraged his children to sing for church, and they became favorites of his congregations.

Llewellyn had served in France during World War II. When he came back to the States he went to college and trained for the ministry under the GI Bill. So many ex-GIs did the same thing that he wasn’t able to become a pastor for a number of years, so he taught church school. Eventually he received his call to the ministry and served in rural churches for many years.

He practiced the strictest form of Christianity. He also expected his family and his parishioners to do the same. He insisted that his wife and children follow every practice of the church to the letter. Yet he was very understanding towards his parishioners and realized the flesh had a strong hold on them. He readily forgave their lapses and wept and prayed for them. I never met a parishioner of his who didn’t respect and love him dearly.

I often wondered what drove him to be so strict on himself and his family until one day he pulled out his well worn and much underlined Bible and, opening it, read me this text: “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” After a pause, he gravely added, “This was the first text I ever underlined in this Bible.” He had received it when he was in high school.

Lord, give us the impetus and grace to do good where we find an opportunity.