Appointed Meetings
Have you ever become aware that the Lord had orchestrated an appointment for you? I came out of my evening job for a brief minute to go to my car. While out there, a single mom who was a Catholic believer and who knows I am a Christian minister, said, “Hi. You caught me!” She had a cigarette in her hand.
Immediately, I felt the Lord remind me of a story to share with her. As I approached her, she seemed nervous. Perhaps she was expecting a spiritual lecture against smoking. I told her that when I was taking a class in Ethics at Fuller Seminary, the professor talked about smoking and referred to a saying of Jesus: “It’s not what goes into a man that defiles him, but what comes out of him.” She needed me to repeat it 3 times. Then I explained that as long as it wasn’t a non-medicinal drug that, like excess alcohol use, deprived her of the ability to offer God rational service, her smoking did not spiritually pollute her. It may not be healthy and best but neither is consuming too much sugar, not eating enough protein, not getting enough sleep, being too busy etc. It blessed her and seemed to free her. She left saying she was going to quit smoking.
Maybe we sometimes use the wrong approach with people. Remember, we are to discern if a person is rebellious, discouraged, or spiritually weak and then treat them according to their condition (1 Thess 5:14). Not everything needs a rebuke. Different medical conditions require different treatment plans. The same is true spiritually. We need to listen for His words more. So also, we need to be sensitive to those divine appointments when He would want to speak to or through us.
Unending pleasure in the next life; training for godly pleasure in this one.