Christianity on a Garbage Can

This is by far one of the greatest moments ever on the Cosby Show. Vanessa has just brought home a boyfriend and has announced to everyone in the family that she is going to marry him. This is the conversation between Dr. Huxtable and the boyfriend.

“You have a favorite food?”
“Yes sir, what you had here was fine. I especially enjoyed the fish sticks.”
“No no, forget the fish sticks. I mean, do you have a favorite food, something that you really, you know, love?”
“Oh yeah. On occasion I enjoy a nice juicy steak.”
“Steak! Steak, there you go. You’ve got the steak. Now just imagine we got the Porterhouse.”
“OK.”
“Porterhouse, and no white lines in it at all.”
“Yeah.”
“Now what would you like to go along with it?”
“Oh, uh, some crispy potatoes.”
“No problem. Now, you got mushrooms. Mushrooms. Do
you like your mushrooms?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You can smell it, can’t you?”
“Yeah!”
“Can you smell the potatoes?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Smell the mushrooms?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Sautéed.”
“Smell good?”
“Mm, boy.”
“Mm, hmm.”
“Huh?”
“Yes, sir.”
“All right. Now, I’m going to present it to you, right? I go over. I don’t get a plate.”
“Uh huh.”
“I take the garbage can lid. And I turn it upside down after taking it off of the garbage can. I take your steak, your potatoes, and your sautéed mushrooms, and I give it to you. Not too appetizing, is it? It’s in the presentation. That’s the way she brought you here. On a garbage can lid.”

I just got finished reading Mark Dever's book called personal Evangelism. It really has been convicting and reminding me of my call to share my faith.

This story pops in my mind whenever I think about evangelism. I don't fully accept that the best evangelism is just living our faith out loud, nor do I fully believe we should be out on the streets with signs and doing cold call conversations with people. I do believe a lot of it has to go into the presentation though, and so much of Christianity these days seems to be brought out on a garbage can.