What Good Am I?

When Paul quoted the Stoic philosophers Epimenides and Aratus in his speech on the Areopagus, he apparently thought they had something important to say.  Somehow, despite their pagan worldview, they had stumbled onto truth. It must have been easier for Paul’s audience to hear truth presented from men they respected and claimed as their own.

Is it possible that Paul’s apologetic method would work today? Is there anything we can learn from people with significantly different worldviews than our own? Is all truth God’s truth, regardless of who says it?

I think so. I love to find truth in non-biblical sources. When I come across a story, or a song, or a quote that captures biblical truth in a form different then I am used to, I feel like a treasure hunter finding a cache of gold.

So I was thrilled recently when I read this poem by Robert Zimmerman. It captures and illustrates the following Bible verse with striking clarity.

“Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will He not repay each person according to what he has done?” (Proverbs 24:11, 12)

What good am I if I'm like all the rest,
If I just turned away, when I see how you're dressed,
If I shut myself off so I can't hear you cry,
What good am I?

What good am I if I know and don't do,
If I see and don't say, if I look right through you,
If I turn a deaf ear to the thunderin' sky,
What good am I?

What good am I while you softly weep,
And I hear in my head what you say in your sleep,
And I freeze in the moment like the rest who don't try,
What good am I?

What good am I then to others and me,
If I've had every chance and yet still fail to see,
If my hands are tied must I not wonder within,
Who tied them, and why, and where must I have been.

What good am I if I say foolish things,
And I laugh in the face of what sorrow brings,
And I just turn my back while you silently die,
What good am I?

(Bob Dylan, What Good Am I? From the album, Oh Mercy Copyright © 1989 Special Rider Music)