Serving Rascals, Clumsy Disciples, and Physically and Mentally Ill Believers with the Unconditional Love of Jesus Christ
John 4:6, NLT
This is a remarkable account of Jesus’ humanity. He is tired. He had been walking for a long time. It was hot and sticky, and He finds a cool place by an historic well to sit. His legs were exhausted. The funny thing is that we are so quick to emphasize our energy and vigor, and regard that to be our spirituality. But, if we are honest, we also have times of fatigue.
It’s instructive to note that while Jesus is very tired, He is still in the very center of the Father’s will. When I get tired, I just shut down, and retreat. I will often just “unplug” and I’m not very spiritual. But Jesus remains receptive, and even though He is so tired, He is activated by the Holy Spirit. I would like to suggest that perhaps too often we let our humanity direct our spirit.
By choosing to sit by the well, in the hottest part of the day, Jesus positions Himself to wait. He inserts Himself in the Will of God. It is intentional. He is waiting for her to come. He has an appointment, and the Kingdom of God is scheduled to break out in the life of a certain woman.
This is important because ministry happens more frequently then we imagine. It happens when we are really tired. (And maybe more!). Inserting yourself into God’s Will is an intentional act of love. It is putting yourself into the flow, and committing a deliberate act of faith.
We may be tired and wanting to retreat in our fatigue. But our spiritual man rarely gets weary, we just let our flesh dictate what we will and will not do. I challenge you to wait expectantly for the the flow to bring to you those in your appointment book.
There is a tremendous need to listen to those suffering with mental illness.
Listening takes patience.
I believe it is a rule written somewhere, that self-centered people are simply not prepared to reach hurting people. You might say they don’t have the capability to become a good listener. One thing is certain, listening will change you. The more you do it, the better (and wiser) person you will become.
Listening to the disturbed takes work. You can become that catalyst for healing and wholeness. But you have to set aside your own agenda to do this.
Typically the mentally ill are intense communicators. Sometimes they can be delusional and seem incoherent. But your patience will pay off. Trust the Holy Spirit to strengthen you.
“Spouting off before listening to the facts is both shameful and foolish.”
Proverbs 18:13
1. listens with spiritual ears open, hearing and understanding the spirit beneath the words;
2. listens with the heart and mind still and th e mouth shut;
3. listens with no personal agenda;
4. listens with compassionate spiritual eyes, maintaining involved eye contact;
5. listens with a compassionate heart;
6. listens with a committed heart;
7. listens with attentiveness;
8. listens without judgment;
9. listens without fear;
10. listens with faith, knowing that the Spirit of God is at work to will and do according to His good purpose;
11. waits patiently, quietly and prayerfully through times of silence, making room for the unfolding of things previously too deep and too painful to even know or express;
12. counts it a privilege to witness a soul in the process of transformation, even when it doesn’t look like it;
13. offers to explore options wisely;
14. offers to pray when the time of tears and sharing ends;
15. consoles with words of comfort and confidence in the faithfulness of God, which is usually all anyone needs to hear;
16. waits to give advice until asked;
17. offers a hug;
18. recognizes that these are holy moments of eternal consequence;
19. keeps all holy moments completely confidential.
20. doesn’t try to take the place of the Holy Spirit.
“Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.”
James 1:19
I have no clue where this list came from. But it is quite good and very thorough. I exhort you to really listen close to those with a disability. Forget about WWJD. Try HWJL.
(How Would Jesus Listen?)
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A crack in everything. As someone who has experienced brokenness in my life, I appreciate the wisdom of these simple words. You see, I am intensely aware of being different then others.
I had a night job working my way through school frying donuts. I remember clearly an incident were I overheard my boss telling someone that, “Bryan is one of the most eccentric people I have ever met.” Now I honestly was not trying to be odd, or eccentric.
To put this in perspective, I just happened to be taking N.T. Greek at the time and knew that the word for eccentric was a contraction, (of ek, meaning “off, or off to one side, and “centros”, meaning, “center”). He was saying that I was “off centered”. That really troubled me because I always felt like I was intensely stable, and very much a well-balanced person. (But I was just 22. I guess that fact alone explains much.)
Cohen’s poem tells us certain things. First, he describes bells that can’t be used, they don’t work anymore. Second, he tells us of our need to get real and to understand that “a perfect offering” is beyond our capability. Maybe 30 years ago, ‘naive idealism’ might have carried the day for us. But now I’m in my mid-50s and I have tried to figure out a thing or two. By then we start to see the cracks in everything, nothing has gone by untouched. We live in a fallen and broken world.
To learn this deeply, is to turbocharge your recovery. You’re a broken person. But that is actually a good thing. It summons up a discernment of how we grow spiritually.
I find it quite astonishing that the broken, weak, and the burned-out are closer to the Kingdom then the strong, the sure, and the gifted. This is a rich and an incredible truth, we are to see our brokenness and ruination in a whole different perspective. We must see that that is how the light gets in.
“Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God.”
Matthew 5:3
“God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.”
Vance Havner
Broken Believers 