I'd like to invite you on a journey with me. Picture a dusty road, bustling with people. It's time to gather and pray and everyone is rushing in and out of the gate to gather in the Temple Courts. There is a bustling of activity and that is stirring up the dust even more. The sun is hot, the day is clear, and nothing seems out of the ordinary. The women are quickly catching up on town gossip as they hurry to their area. The men are discussing business and sharing the latest news about Rome. Children are laughing and joyful, fussy and tearful. The animals that are penned for sacrifice are squawking, bleating, and scratching.
A crippled man sits to the side, holding out his hands, tiredly beseeching people for money. He can't walk, he can't work, and he's at the mercy of those who walk by him. He's probably been sitting in that same spot, day after day, year after year. He's tired of sitting there, tired of waiting for people to feel like giving him money just so he can eat. The people aren't tired of walking by him day after day; they barely notice him. He has become such a normal part of the scene that he just blends in.
But today is different. It's nothing anyone can see with the eyes, but two men felt it. There was something crackling in the air that day, a sense of expectation. They had seen so many wondrous things happening over the last few months that an "ordinary" day would be odd to them. Peter and John had seen a man risen from the dead, seen Him ascend into heaven, felt the wind and seen the fire fall when they gathered for prayer with other believers, and even heard the tongues spoken that gave a message in many languages. This day they went to the Temple to worship, as they did other days. This day, however, they stopped by the man asking for alms.
They had no alms to give. So they stopped.
Why?
Because they knew he was asking for the wrong thing. The man thought all he could ask for was money. After all, why would he think he could ask for what he really needed? What would people think if a crippled man started begging for new legs, for blood to circulate, muscles to strengthen, limbs to function, and a miracle to occur?!?! But these two men... Well, let's just say that they knew there was nothing you can't ask God for. They'd seen Lazarus come out of a tomb, for heaven's sake! So they told him they couldn't give him money, but they told him to "Get up and walk in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth!"
And he did.
I wonder what the people milling about the Temple gate thought when he started leaping and praising God? I wonder how many of them worshiped in a new way that day instead of following routine? How would you have responded?
Today I want to see people the way God does. I want to walk in that crackling, urgently aware state of Holy Spirit that John and Peter did that day so that when I walk by people asking for help I can point them to the Miracle Giver. I don't want to enter through a gate I've entered a hundred times to pray a prayer I've uttered a hundred times to a God I've taken for granted a hundred times. I want a new awareness, a pressing desire, a passion. For God ... and for the people He has called me to love.
A crippled man sits to the side, holding out his hands, tiredly beseeching people for money. He can't walk, he can't work, and he's at the mercy of those who walk by him. He's probably been sitting in that same spot, day after day, year after year. He's tired of sitting there, tired of waiting for people to feel like giving him money just so he can eat. The people aren't tired of walking by him day after day; they barely notice him. He has become such a normal part of the scene that he just blends in.
But today is different. It's nothing anyone can see with the eyes, but two men felt it. There was something crackling in the air that day, a sense of expectation. They had seen so many wondrous things happening over the last few months that an "ordinary" day would be odd to them. Peter and John had seen a man risen from the dead, seen Him ascend into heaven, felt the wind and seen the fire fall when they gathered for prayer with other believers, and even heard the tongues spoken that gave a message in many languages. This day they went to the Temple to worship, as they did other days. This day, however, they stopped by the man asking for alms.
They had no alms to give. So they stopped.
Why?
Because they knew he was asking for the wrong thing. The man thought all he could ask for was money. After all, why would he think he could ask for what he really needed? What would people think if a crippled man started begging for new legs, for blood to circulate, muscles to strengthen, limbs to function, and a miracle to occur?!?! But these two men... Well, let's just say that they knew there was nothing you can't ask God for. They'd seen Lazarus come out of a tomb, for heaven's sake! So they told him they couldn't give him money, but they told him to "Get up and walk in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth!"
And he did.
I wonder what the people milling about the Temple gate thought when he started leaping and praising God? I wonder how many of them worshiped in a new way that day instead of following routine? How would you have responded?
Today I want to see people the way God does. I want to walk in that crackling, urgently aware state of Holy Spirit that John and Peter did that day so that when I walk by people asking for help I can point them to the Miracle Giver. I don't want to enter through a gate I've entered a hundred times to pray a prayer I've uttered a hundred times to a God I've taken for granted a hundred times. I want a new awareness, a pressing desire, a passion. For God ... and for the people He has called me to love.
Thank you for the post Lisa!
ReplyDeleteYou always post such eye opener posts!!!! This is beauitful and everything I want as well.
The same every day ordinary routine that I've been doing for years is tiresome to me. I want more! I want to live the life that GOD wants me to live! It's like that song by Brandon Heath "Give me your eyes, for just one second"...