Come with me to a third-grade classroom . . . A nine-year-old kid sitting at his desk when, all of a sudden, there is a puddle between his feet and the front of his pants are wet. He cannot possibly imagine how this has happened. It’s never happened before, and he knows that when the boys find out he will never hear the end of it. When the girls find out, they’ll never speak to him again as long as he lives. The boy believes his heart is going to stop; he puts his head down and prays this prayer: “Dear God, this is an emergency! I need help now! Five minutes from now, I’m dead meat.” He looks up from his prayer, and here comes the teacher with a look in her eyes that says he has been discovered.
As the teacher is walking toward him, a classmate named Susie is carrying a goldfish bowl that is filled with water. Susie trips in front of the teacher and inexplicably dumps the bowl of water in the boy’s lap. The boy pretends to be angry, but all the while is saying to himself, “Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!” Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule, the boy is the object of sympathy. The teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on while his pants dry out. All the other children are on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk. The sympathy is wonderful. But as life would have it, the ridicule that should have been his has been transferred to someone else—Susie. She tries to help, but they tell her to get out. “You’ve done enough, you klutz!”
Finally, at the end of the day, as they are waiting for the bus, the boy walks over to Susie and whispers, “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” Susie whispers back, “I wet my pants once too.”
May God help us see the opportunities that are always around us to do good. Remember, just going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car. Each and every one of us is going through tough times right now, but God is getting ready to bless you in a way that only He can. Keep the faith.
May peace and blessing be yours from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. He died for our sins just as God our Father planned, and rescued us from this evil world in which we live. All glory to God through all the ages of eternity. Amen.
Galatians 1:3–5
So today, Father, we ask You to bless our friends, relatives, and those we care deeply for. Show them a new revelation of Your love and power. Holy Spirit, we ask You to minister to their spirit at this very moment. Where there is pain, give them Your peace and mercy; where there is self-doubt, release a renewed confidence through Your grace; where there is need, we ask You to fulfill their needs. Bless their homes, families, finances, their goings and their comings. Amen.
Have a Spirit-Filled Day.
