When Captain Eddie Rickenbacker’s plane went down in the Pacific during World War II, the survivors floated in a life raft without food or water for several weeks before finally being rescued.

Rickenbacker and his lieutenant, James Whittaker, wrote about their experience in the book We Thought We Heard the Angels Sing. One of their crew members died during the ordeal, and the rest spent quite awhile debating whether or not to eat his body, before they finally buried him at sea.

But suppose that just before these men were rescued, I happened to come along in my speedboat. The men in the raft stare up at me through sunken eyes, wondering if I’m just another mirage. But I pull up beside them and say, “You guys have a problem. You don’t look too healthy. What you need is more exercise!”

And they reply, “What you need is more brains!”

For a long time I had the idea that the way to get people interested in spiritual things was to get them involved in witness and service and outreach. In a new parish, I would therefore enlist the help of the super-salesmen among the membership and try to get everybody out knocking on doors or passing out literature or giving Bible studies.

About 5 percent of the people responded and did indeed try to witness. But it was really a loss. In fact, it caused many to pull away in order to avoid feeling guilty for not becoming involved.

It’s foolish to try to get people to exercise if they are nearly dead. It’s foolish, and indeed futile, to try to get people to exercise if they haven’t even been born yet.

So then I decided to try another technique. When going to a new church, I would do everything possible to get people interested in spiritual things. I would begin by emphasizing our relationship with God and the things that have to do with faith and surrender and overcoming. The response was overwhelming–at first. But then it peaked and died away. And I moved on to another congregation!

Finally I realized the problem. It’s vital to begin with an emphasis upon spiritual things–but that must be followed as quickly as possible by encouraging the people to become active in Christian service. We can keep new life in Christ alive only as we share it. And the only thing that will keep revival from fading away is to begin at once to share the good news with others.

This balance is described in the book Steps to Christ, pages 80, 81:

“Strength comes by exercise; activity is the very condition of life. Those who endeavor to maintain Christian life by passively accepting the blessings that come through the means of grace, and doing nothing for Christ, are simply trying to live by eating without working. And in the spiritual as in the natural world, this always results in degeneration and decay. A man who would refuse to exercise his limbs would soon lose all power to use them. Thus the Christian who will not exercise his God-given powers not only fails to grow up into Christ, but he loses the strength that he already had.”

Christ used the best method in working with His disciples. First, He called them to follow him.

See Matthew 4:19.

“And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” – Matthew 4:19

Then after a time, He gave them the commission,

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Matthew 28:19.

Only as we learn how to follow Him–and to keep on following Him–are we prepared to go.