Audacious Requests

 

“. . . and say to the owner of the house, ‘The teacher asks you, “Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” He will show you a large room upstairs, already furnished. Make preparations for us there.”

— Luke [22:11]–12

AUDACIOUS REQUESTS

I remember seeing her, Beth Caulfield, in class at Drew University Theological School . I immediately knew she was from the business world. My old world. She was dutiful, serious, and committed to learning her new craft. I knew she would get an A. She did. Later, after we graduated, I received an assignment to assemble and hire the best Methodists in New Jersey for a new group being set up to help the larger church. The existing clergy gave me over fifty names to interview. I needed to hire five. I personally talked with all that were on the list and began to hire the five I thought were the best fit. Then Beth called and asked if she could interview. But she hadn’t been on the list. She persisted and I conducted one more interview. 

“She wasn’t part of the crowd, but she knew that wasn’t important. What was important, she knew she could help.”

We hired Beth. But she hadn’t been recommended by the clergy, I was told. They also told me she was pushy and not part of the crowd. True she didn’t speak their language. True she was from a faraway place, called the business world. She wasn’t pushy, she was using her skills learned in another world. She wasn’t part of the crowd, but she knew that wasn’t important. What was important, she knew she could help. She wasn’t afraid of disappointment. Her past had told her to ignore rejection. Her past had told her to ask. But her past had also told her to be polite and humble. She was only following rules she had learned in a different place. 

“Jesus knows that when we serve God faithfully, we are not disappointed.”

Imagine Jesus sending a few people into town to ask for a room. A room where he would meet for the last time on earth with his disciples. A request that we might view as audacious. But not to Jesus. He knew there would be no disappointment. He knew that the room was to serve God. Jesus knows that when we serve God faithfully, we are not disappointed. God emboldens us to make the request, and the request will be granted. Jesus did meet in this upper room. Beth did get her job. 

“Fear of disappointment is the biggest obstacle to success.”

Fear of disappointment is the biggest obstacle to success. It is the fear of being rejected. Perhaps even humiliated. We all confront it every day. We have to ask and we get nervous. Rejection is a very high form of humiliation. Jesus modeled the ability to ask without fear. He put his purpose ahead of disappointment. His goal was divine and his request fit a practical need. In business, we don’t always have divine goals, but we always have goals. When our goals help our neighbor, our customers, or our company, we should ask. When our goals are honorable, we should ask. Our own fear of disappointment prevents us from asking, but Jesus modeled how to request, and Beth followed. 

Blessings, until next time,
Bruce L. Hartman

 

PARTING THOUGHTS

What do we fear when we ask?

Is our request honorable?

How do we ask?