Two friends and I were enjoying a mini-pot-luck dinner together this weekend. One of us was telling of a car mechanic who was rude, and had a bad attitude, not to mention not repairing her car as he should have. How as Believers should we respond to such situations? Yes, he needs to make good his work, but should she have written him off as a loser, just a bad guy to avoid? We began to pray for him, to bless him, for God to heal whatever in his heart happened to him to cause him such bitterness. Who knows, we pondered, if his wife didn’t leave him that morning, or if he has a sick child and is pre-occupied with worry? Or whatever.
We decided he needs some TLC from the Lord. She would go back, and while requiring he fix what wasn’t fixed properly, she would attempt to reach out with some word of kindness. Maybe even present that potentially life-changing question: “Has anyone ever told you that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life?” It’s amazing what responses you get from folks when you ask them that question -- everything from tears, to smiles, to “No, no one ever has,” to “Yes, praise the Lord” (then you’ve found a sister or a brother in the Lord), to “Not me. I’ve done too much,” which certainly opens up the conversation to tell them about Jesus dying for just that reason, to make unacceptable people acceptable in God’s sight. And yes, sometimes you get rejection. On occasion someone just walks away, but rarely.
We continued to talk about how many people there are ‘out there’ who could be encouraged just by someone putting a little love in their smile or their voice as they address them. Someone who returns nastiness with niceness. There are a lot of lonely people in the world today, especially with so many family break-ups. Rejection permeates the self-image of so many. The saying, “Reach out and touch someone” may not be a bad idea. Just a touch on the arm or shoulder may go a long way to making someone feel worthy of being touched. They may not have been touched for a long time. Maybe that’s why Jesus reached out and touched the leperous man when He healed him. He could have just spoken the word to heal him. But maybe He was healing something in his soul as well as his body, letting him know he’s no longer “untouchable.”
Perhaps when we spread God's love around to someone they will then respond by sharing it with others. You know, like "Passing it forward." Only God really knows how far the ripples in the wake of a pebble of kindness goes out when we drop it into someone else’s life.
To read the rest of this article go to: www.sidroth.org and click on Articles. Scroll down to "Pebbles."
No comments:
Post a Comment