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It was a beautiful fall morning. The air felt crisp and the sky was a beautiful blue.
It was a perfect morning to walk.
And that’s exactly what I decided to do.
As I began my walk, I rejoiced in the sounds and smells of the
morning but eventually a familiar rhythm developed in my stride and I
became completely immersed in my thoughts.
I like to call this my “alone
zone”. In the “zone”,
my concentration shifts to thoughts about life – my husband, our
children and the events of the day.
But often times, I find myself working through those things that
the Lord has been revealing to me about the gospel.
Sometimes I get so “zoned” that I reach a place in my route
and can’t remember which streets I walked to get there.
So it wasn’t unusual that on this beautiful fall morning, I
made my way through the neighborhood and out onto a main street in town
without being consciously aware of it.
I usually try to avoid main
thoroughfares in town when I speed walk.
I’ve seen myself in the reflection of a car window or two and
know I look pretty amusing. But
this morning, I just kept walking and thinking.
It wasn’t until a young woman leaned out of her car and yelled,
“Hey you!” that my concentration was broken.
As I turned my head towards the car, the woman finished her
sentence by screaming, “You need Jesus.”
And with that, the car and the young woman sped away.
My
initial response wasn’t a happy smile in the direction of the speeding
car with a wave that implied, “Keep telling folks about Jesus”.
My reaction to this young woman’s public declaration was anger
and hurt. “How dare that
woman judge me,” I thought to myself. “What makes her think that I don’t know Christ?”
My walking slowed a bit as I muddled through my thoughts and then
I understood, “It’s Sunday morning,” I declared out loud.
And as I turned around to see where the woman had come from, I
noticed the parking lot of a small church.
Now I knew. . .and it made me sad.
As the day went by, I started to
understand why I had felt so sad. Not
only had I been on the receiving end of someone else’s hurtful
judgment about my so-called spirituality.
Ouch! But now I was
aware of the pain that I was certain I had inflicted on others when I
handed down my assumptions. Double
ouch!! It had never occurred to me that speed walking on a beautiful
Sunday morning would cause such a stir.
Especially in my own thoughts…
“For
who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of
the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one
knows except the Spirit of God.”
1 Corinthians 2:11
Hmmm.
Isn’t that interesting. No
one knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit within.
But that isn’t how we usually operate, is it?
Think about how often we all make assumptions about the thoughts
of a person (what they must believe) by looking at the outside.
Nine out of ten times, we judge a person by their behavior.
Just like the young woman, we often look at someone’s behavior
to determine one of two things – whether they’re a Christian or not
and then, whether they’re a good Christian or not.
“But
he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised
by no man.” 1 Corinthians 2:15
But scripture tells us that it’s not
up to you or to me to determine anything so personally intimate about
another person. Appraised
by no man. Did you know
that Strong’s Greek and Hebrew Lexicon tells us the word
“appraise” means to judge, examine or estimate.
So if we look at that verse of scripture again, we see that
judging, examining or estimating another is not listed under your name
or mine. It’s true.
Determining someone else’s rightness or wrongness is not up to
you or to me.
But I’ve done it.
And one time in particular was on another beautiful Sunday
morning. When we lived in
Atlanta, our route to church always took us by a certain golf
course. On this particular Sunday, Easter Sunday, I was especially
sensitive to those “heathens”.
As we stopped at a stop sign, we saw three men putting on a green
while a fourth held the flag. Well,
just watching those men for that brief moment really teed me off!
My self-righteous, religious, condemning mindset wailed on those
poor men from within the confines of our car.
“I can’t believe they aren’t in church.
Well, I know what they believe.
Golf is their god. . .” And
as I finished spewing my venom, I turned from the window to see the
horrified look on John’s face. He
looked liked I had just punched him in the stomach.
He didn’t say anything. He
didn’t have to. I had
said it all…and more. It
was hurtful and it was mean. And
it made me sad.
As I think back to that incident, I’m
glad that no one other than my sweet husband heard my tirade.
There is absolutely no way anyone would have thought that I knew
Christ. They probably would
have concluded that I was familiar with religion or the Law but not with
the love of Christ. Ugh! But you know what? Outside
the windows of our car, I looked quite right – I was going to church
and I was all dressed up for Easter.
But on the inside…double ugh!
So, what is the answer to all this
judging and examining and estimating?
What can defuse the hurtful blows that we often want to inflict
upon one another? The love of Christ. Dear
friend, all need Christ – absolutely everyone without exception.
And in knowing Christ, therein lies the love of God manifested
without judgment or restriction. “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved
us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one
another.” (1 John 10-11)
And isn’t that how you really want to
relate to others – in love? I
know that’s how I want other people to relate to me – in love.
Don’t you think that love is what Christ is up to as He’s
willing and working in you and in me?
I really don’t think He’s interested in producing a bunch of
people with good-looking behavior as much as He is in producing love.
And what is love? Devotion
to one another, persevering in tribulations (Romans 12:10-18); bearing
with one another, forgiving each other, putting on a heart of
compassion, etc. (Colossians 3:12, 13). Don’t you see?
The love of Christ is the source, the core, and the producer of
the kind of behavior that we long to display and extend to others!
Ah, to walk in love. . .
Speaking of walking.
Remember when that young woman took a ‘spiritual snapshot’ of
me on that beautiful fall morning not so long ago?
She thought that my Sunday morning speed walking gave evidence to
what was going on inside me. Perhaps
an elevated heart rate and a quickened pulse but that was about it.
Speed walking can be beneficial to the heart, but it is not
particularly spiritual. Not
even on a Sunday morning. And
ironically, it was the sticker on the bumper of her car that provided a
worthy defense on my behalf. It
read, “Exercise daily---walk
with the Lord!”
I love you,
Marcy
(More scripture verses for your review
– 1 Sam. 16:7; Rom. 2:29; 2 Cor. 5:12; 1 Peter 3:4; Rom. 13: 8, 10; 1
Cor. 4:21; 1 Cor. 13; 1 Cor. 16:14; 2 Cor. 5:14, 15; Gal. 5:6, 14; Eph.
5:2; Phil.2:1, 2; 1 John 4:19; Col. 3:14; 1 Peter 4:8; 1 Thess. 3:12; 1
Tim. 1:5)
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