Give Them Another Chance

‘…Mark…is profitable to me for the ministry.’ 2 Timothy 4:11 KJV

Paul, who demanded 100 per cent commitment from himself and those he worked with, was angry with Mark for wanting to take a break. Paul and Barnabas split up over Mark’s return. But later, after reconsidering the whole thing, Paul gave Mark a second chance, saying, ‘He is profitable to me for the ministry.’ God sees potential in people, even flawed people, and we must too. When we believe in people and encourage them, they can move from the loss column to the profit column. Many years ago in a manufacturing town in Scotland, a young lady gathered a class of street kids to teach them God’s Word. To keep them coming back, the superintendent bought each of them a new suit. But after a few weeks Bob, the most unpromising boy in the class, was missing. When she went looking for him she found him with his clothes torn and dirty. So the superintendent bought him another suit and invited him back again. After a few weeks he dropped out of Sunday school once more. Disgusted, the teacher wanted to give up on him. But the superintendent said, ‘I’ll buy him a third suit if he will promise to attend regularly.’ Bob did. He kept coming, committed his life to Christ and studied for the ministry. That discouraged, forlorn, ragged, runaway boy was Robert Morrison, the great missionary to China who translated the Bible into the Chinese language and opened the Kingdom of Heaven to countless millions who live there. So, who are you thinking of giving up on? Don’t do it! Give them, and God, another chance!