I met a man the other day, I may have mentioned him in previous
devotion. He is bound to a wheelchair. Unable to walk or use his arms, he can move
his head and his thumb. He uses his
thumb to control the wheelchair. He has
a portable speaker that he uses to amplify his voice so he can be heard when he
talks. He is the kind of guy that you
might see and then try to avoid because being around him makes you feel a bit
awkward. In Matthew 25, Jesus told the parable of the Sheep and the Goats in which
both asked the same question of the Lord – “When did we see you?” I had to step into his “space” to talk with
him. After talking with, let’s call him
Bob, I discovered that inside that crippled body was a very intelligent –
caring person. We happened to be at a
gathering of a noisy group of people.
You know how it is. So many
people having separate conversations – the “din” intensifies until you can
hardly hear anything distinctly. In
order to talk to Bob, I had to move further inside of his space.
Now the others in the group were cordial enough, but no one was
attempting to talk to Bob any longer than to say a polite “hello”. I wondered how often this happens to Bob. My
guess – this was a typical experience for him.
After a while, Bob told me he was hungry. Bob was there on his own. He asked if I could
get him something to eat. There were snack
foods on a table. I told him that I
would point at the food and he could nod his head if he wanted some of it. Bob proved to be hungry! The next thing I was asked to do was to feed
him. “Lord when did we see you?” “When you gave me something to eat, to drink,
when you talked to me – when you did it to the least of these, you did it to Me.”
I am sharing this with you, not because I want to impress
you with my spirituality, but to encourage you to be ready. The point is that you never know when the Lord
is going to show up. When you will be
given the opportunity to show the love of God through an act of kindness and
compassion. Listen. It would have been
easy to ignore Bob. All I had to do was
turn my back after I said “Hello – nice to meet you.” To find someone less “needy” to talk to. I knew that I was supposed to talk with him
and to help him. Even to feed him. And so do all of us who are sealed by the Spirit
on God.
The person that God puts in front of you may not be
physically handicapped like Bob. Most
people are not. But many people you meet
are struggling in life – crippled by sin – by life’s circumstances – poor decisions
– consequences of living under the influence of their old nature. Not able to walk in the Spirit – emotionally –
spiritually crippled. You need spiritual discernment to see them, an obedient
heart to minister to them and they need faith to be healed. Ministry to others is often in the form of a
very simple thing – but at the same time, can be a very powerful thing. We all have spiritual opportunities – every day.
As Jesus said “Those who have eyes (spiritual eyes) let them see.” Jesus didn’t
heal everyone, He did minister to many. So
be ready my friend – your opportunity to show someone Jesus is just around the
corner. Your heart will tell you it is right when the time comes – so don’t
look around to see if anyone is watching, don’t look at your watch to see if
you have the time, look up and give thanks to the Lord for the opportunity to
be Jesus to someone. CHARLEY
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