We have recently, during the last several months, been studying the ministries of the Holy Spirit at church and I have to admit that I have been convicted in several ways to be more aware of my surroundings and more intentional in my interactions with others. In fact, I have been working on the things that happen when revival breaks out in God’s people and how love, healing, miracles and other signs and wonders occur when the people of God are in alignment with the will of God. Of course, calling on the Holy Spirit to come upon us is also a way to invite revival into our lives.
But there’s a difference between learning these things with your head and feeling them with your heart. How many times do we know the right thing to do but fail to do it because it is foreign to us, or scary or just plain inconvenient. It even becomes more difficult to successfully reach out to others in view of all the riots and unrest that are sweeping the country – including the recent riots in Charlotte. I just can’t understand why people destroy the property of others to protest what they believe is an injustice against another person. How do they know that the very destruction they are perpetrating isn’t directed at one of their own neighbors?
You would think that intelligent people, with the ability to reason, would stand together and try to bridge their differences. Instead the world seems to be getting more divided each passing day. Which brings to mind the reason for the post tonight. I happened to run across a short video on FaceBook that featured several fish, on the ground in a puddle of water, slowly dying. Several frames later, a dog enters the screen and moves from fish to fish trying to use his nose to splash them with water and keep them alive. Although the video ends before we know the final outcome, it seems evident that the dog is unable to save the three fish.
Several things struck me as I watched the video. First of all, how did the dog know that the fish needed to live in water? That, in and of itself, seems life a miracle. Then, the fact that the dog moved from fish to fish, splashing them with water in an effort to help them is just as remarkable. It was obvious that the dog was anxious and was troubled that the three fish were in distress. And what passed through my mind was that dog seemed more concerned about the fish than many of us are about all the injustices in the world. And we know better. In fact, we could learn a lesson from our furry friend. I have to admit that the video struck a chord with me and I have thought of it almost constantly since I saw it yesterday morning. It troubled and convicted me to try and do a better job treating people differently – better…
And as we approach the upcoming election, it is clear to me that tempers will flare and people will become more intolerant as the election approaches. But that’s not what God wants from us. In fact, Jesus was quite vocal about what He desired for us and we are told by the apostle Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, in Col. 3:13-15, “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”
Notice how important the idea of unity was to the early church. At Pentecost we were told that the people were all together at one time and place – and now Paul is telling people to bind themselves together in love – in perfect unity. My encouragement this evening is that the ways of the early church are still the desires of the heart of Jesus today. My prayer is that we will all re-think our positions on those who are different from us and that, just perhaps, the Holy Spirit will convict us to re-think our decisions on loving those who don’t share our views. If you would like to see the video I referenced this evening, please feel free to visit my FaceBook page. I have posted it there. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…