Before Mike Ducker retired as CEO of FedEx Freight, I heard him speak to business professionals. In his talk, he offered ideas about managing adversity. But it was his opening statement that I found memorable.
Ducker had an impressive run at FedEx. In 1975, he accepted an entry level position. Decades later, Fred Smith, chairman of FedEx, talked Ducker into delaying retirement by offering him the CEO position. One executive said Ducker “has the utmost integrity, he’s an outstanding leader and exhibits courage in the face of adversity.” Another said he “has a phenomenal gift of motivating people.” Here’s what Ducker said that motivated me. “My purpose is to encourage you if a believer, and if not, make Christ attractive to you.”
Something about that statement invites you to look beyond the foibles of church folks and distinctives of denominations. It invites you to consider that if God exists, could He not have preserved a record of His work on earth in order to attract you to Himself? Take a fresh look at the story of Jesus and you might be surprised.
In The Everlasting Man, Chesterton explores the story someone might read as “an imaginary man from the moon to whom the New Testament is new.” He writes, “He would find a number of very startling pieces of advice; a number of stunning rebukes; a number of strangely beautiful stories… a number of very daring simplifications of the difficulties of life.” He would not find meek and mild platitudes meant for bobbing heads and knowing smiles. He would find a complex Christ who amazed His hearers and angered His critics. He would witness sacrificial love, uncommon wisdom, and focused courage. This Jesus healed the sick, confronted the pious, and stayed on message. “How suitable (Jesus’ ideas) were to His time,” Chesterton writes, “is perhaps suggested in the end of His story.”
At the human level, Jesus’ life ended because His ideas ran afoul of the religious power brokers. But at a deeper level, far more was at play. “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him” (Rom. 5:8-9). Jesus did not come just to be a moral teacher with new ideas. He came to set things right between you and God. Yes, His teachings are worth admiring, but it’s His resurrection that demonstrates His power and His grace that makes Him attractive.
Mike Ducker’s career at FedEx was molded by a certain habit. “In my everyday life, I read the Bible” he said. “That’s an important part of my day.” Somewhere along the way, he found Christ attractive.