Convicted by the Man with the Umbrella

Today found me standing miserably in pouring rain with a friend of mine, getting soaked to the bone while waiting for the bus that didn't show up. Seeing as neither of us were dressed for such an unfortunate circumstance (aside from my rain boots), we were freezing. Out of nowhere, a complete stranger walked up to us and offered us shelter under his umbrella. I was naturally suspicious, due to my past experiences with strange men at bus stops, but we gratefully accepted his generosity and he proceeded to make polite conversation, explaining how he "felt like a sucker, being a skinny dude with a big umbrella and seeing two poor girls getting cold and needing shelter". He behaved entirely honorably the whole time, and for the rest of the day, this incident has bothered me, and I know precisely why. Had I been in the same situation as that man, I would not have offered my umbrella to complete strangers. And, unlike this man, I have been charged by the Most High God to do far more than that for complete strangers. 

Matthew 25:35-40 ~ "'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’"

I know we have all heard this passage quoted until we have numbed ourselves to it. But think about it. What if we actually treated strangers like they were God??? Not in the sense that they have His authority, obviously, but what if we treated them as though they were as important? Here's a radical thought: what if we actually did on a daily basis what God has been telling us to do for thousands of years? And what if we didn't esteem ourselves as super spiritual after every time we did something little like that? What if we didn't do it because we wanted to get an opportunity to stuff Christianese down someone's throat and chalk up bonus Jesus points? What if we actually did it because we sought from God a real love for these people? It's time for me to step it up, and by "me", I mean let God actually have His way in my heart and not be selfish and so focused on myself that I don't notice the needs of these other people that God happens to love just as much as He loves me, even though I don't know them! He doesn't just love the people I already know and who are already in my life, so why do I act like it? Being shy and timid and having a hard time getting words out of my mouth is no excuse for not showing love to everyone. Moses had similar issues, and he had to talk to HOW many people??? Jeremiah was hesitant because he didn't feel adequate, but did God just say, "oh yeah! I forgot you're scared of people and you don't think your competent to do My work! Let Me go find someone else who's overconfident and perfect, so that they don't mess up My plan!" I know my God doesn't make mistakes and I know my God is stronger than my patheticness, and I will not pretend He's a liar just because I want to be selfish.

"sensible"

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age.

Titus 2:11-12

This passage was brought to my attention this morning in Sunday School, and it rather startled me, because the word "sensible" isn't necessarily one that is commonly connected with New Testament ideas. In the New Testament, we find radical actions, such as selling everything you have to give to the church, or giving up your career, family, and social standing to minister nomadically to churches around the world. "Sensible" doesn't really seem to fit into the picture. In fact, "sensible" seems to kill the excitement of it all.  Now, for myself, I am not a particularly sensible person, so I always liked the idea of christians being a bunch of crazies that no one can understand, because I wouldn't have to explain why I just blew a hundred bucks for someone's birthday. "Oh, she's a christian, you know how they are. Money means nothing to them! They should all be homeless by now!" Is there some validity to this kind of "christian foolishness"? Of course! Nothing we have is really ours, as I'm sure you've heard. We are supposed to surrender everything we have and everything we are to the cause of Christ. But I know for myself at least, I don't do it for the cause of Christ all the time. I do it for good reasons, like because I love someone and I want them to know that, or such, and I'm not saying it's wrong to do that. In fact, I'm one of the biggest advocates for that kind of love that you will ever meet, but I realized that I don't do it for Christ alot of the time. I do it because it makes me happy. And, it hasn't really occurred to me, until today, that God might actually have a better purpose for my resources and time than I do. What I'm saying is, living recklessly FOR CHRIST isn't an excuse for me to be the natural idiot that I am. He can use that stupidity for His glory, but it is my duty to discern whether I'm doing something that God really wants me to be doing, or something that I just feel like doing. *Sigh* I don't know whether I'm preaching to the choir and I'm the only idiot who has this issue, or whether this is actually a relevant topic, but I just wanted to share my new knowledge. Again, I'm not trying to say that we shouldn't live radically for Christ - I'm just saying we should do it for a purpose, and not confuse our own ideas with God's. God is sensible, and we should be, too, in whatever way that applies to us. For me, obviously it's money, but it may be something else for you, or maybe it doesn't even apply to you. I don't know. I'm rambling. I'm going to stop now.  :P