The Spirit

I was talking to a man recently, whom I found to be quite annoying. Most of what he sad I found to be incredulous and he was obviously deflecting any attempt to drill down to the truth. Yet, we talked for more than an hour and ended with him insuring I would be coming back and securing my phone number.

How was that possible?  How is it that he could not sense my angst and my disbelief?  Because it was not me in charge of the conversation, it was the Spirit of Christ. I wasn't there to make myself feel warm and fuzzy, I was there to help support this family whose loved one is dying. I was trying to see him and respond to his hurt from the Father's perspective, not my own.

He is a man about to lose someone he has known and loved most of his life. He is a man used to being in control and now finds he has no control at all. He is hurting and afraid, and trying hard to deflect the pain of that reality. His annoying image was only a projection meant to prop up his personal world that s crumbling before his very eyes. I didn't need to feel warmly toward him, he needed me to share the love of Jesus with him.

The action point was not my feelings about his mannerisms but Christ's call on my life: "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers" (Gal 6:9-10).

In my flesh, I could easily grow weary of this individual but in the Spirit, there exists a love that will not back up, back down or back away. That Spirit allows us to do what we would not do, go where we would not go and be present for one we would not want to be with. This is the Spirit of love, this is the Spirit of Christ, by which we as Christians are to live. Jus' Say'n.