An interesting story says that the day the Christian church was formed, a magnificent sermon was preached. It was a great presentation. In fact, it was one of the classic presentations of all time.
According to the story, this presentation was given to a multitude of people. When the sermon was finished, there were a variety of reactions from those onlookers. I (Jim Rohn) find that fascinating since they were all listening to the same sermon.
Some who heard this presentation were perplexed. I read the presentation, and it sounded pretty straightforward to me. Why would somebody be perplexed with a good, sincere, straightforward presentation? The best answer I’ve got is that they are chronically perplexed people. It doesn’t matter who’s preaching, these people are going to be perplexed.
Some who heard this presentation mocked and laughed. They made fun of the presentation. The presentation seemed pretty sincere to me. If you give a sincere, honest presentation, why would somebody mock and laugh? There’s an easy explanation: they are the mockers and the laughers. What else would you expect them to do?
Some that heard this magnificent presentation didn’t know what was going on. Those are the people who usually don’t know what’s going on.
Finally, some that heard the presentation chose to believe, and I think that’s who the speaker was looking for, the believers. Those believers numbered about three thousand. That is a pretty good first day! I’ve had some good first days, but I’ve never had a response like that.
With anything in life, some will believe, some will mock, some will laugh, some will be perplexed, and some won’t know what’s going on. And you just have to leave it at that. In this particular story, as far as we know, there weren’t classes after the presentation to try to de-perplex the perplexed. As far as we know, they left them perplexed. They left the mockers mocking. They left the laughers laughing. All they needed to build a church were the believers, and they knew that with each presentation, more believers would emerge from the masses.
That’s the perspective we all need to cultivate. We can’t win everyone’s dedication and belief at once. The Law of Averages tells us that. What we can do is work on ourselves, refine our philosophy, and trust that the believers will be there. We just need to find them.
* Source: Leading an Inspired Life by Jim Rohn