I know, I know. You're as busy as you can possibly be today, and
tomorrow looks even busier. The last thing in the world you need is
an interruption
to derail you from your agenda.
I've
lived there. Some days I feel like I'm still living there. But lately,
I've been praying about how to embrace the interruptions. And sure
enough, God seems
to delight in answering that prayer ... with interruptions. But here's
one thing I've learned: the interruption can be where God does some of
His most
spectacular work.
If
you haven't already, familiarize yourself again with the story in
Luke 7: 11 - 17. Jesus is having what appears to be a fairly busy day.
He's surrounded by
His disciples and a large crowd. By all appearances, He's on His way to
minister in a town called Nain.
Then, the interruption occurs. He's met by a funeral procession at the
town gate. The dead person being carried out is the only son of a widow.
We don't know
his age, precisely, but Jesus eventually calls him "young
man." Could it have been a child?
"When
the Lord saw [the mother], his heart went out to her
..." (verse 13). The Greek word employed here by Luke is splagchnizomai,
meaning "to feel
deeply, to yearn, to
have compassion and pity." It's as if Jesus was thinking,
"This isn't the way it's supposed to be." Then He does an
astounding thing.
He walks up, touches
the coffin, commands the young man to rise, and a resurrection occurs!
Now understand this: no self-respecting Jew would ever - I mean
ever - touch a coffin that contains a dead person. To do so would
be total defilement. Yet, that's what Jesus does; He touches (haptomai:
to connect or
bind, to apply oneself to) and new life emerges.
Look, I know you're busy. And much of that busy-ness
probably centers on the work of your church. But can I challenge
you to embrace today's interruptions? To "apply yourself" to
some person or situation?
Who
knows, new life just might occur.
- Excerpted from "In Spirit and In Truth"