most say we are.
God did this constantly in the Bible. He told Moses he was a leader
and Moses became one. He told Noah he was a sailor and he became one.
He told Sarah she was a mother and she became one. He told Peter he was
a rock and he led the church. He told Jonah he’d be fish food and, well, he
was. If we want to love people the way God loved people, let God’s Spirit
do the talking when it comes to telling people what they want. All the
directions we’re giving to each other aren’t getting people to the feet of
Jesus. More often, the unintended result is they lead these people back to
us. Here’s the problem: when we make ourselves the hall monitor of
other people’s behavior, we risk having approval become more important
than Jesus’ love.
Another problem with trying to force compliance is it only lasts for a
while, usually only until the person gets a different set of directions from
someone else. Faith lasts a lifetime and will carry us through the most
difficult of times without a word spoken.
Telling people what they should want turns us into a bunch of
sheriffs. People who are becoming love lose the badge and give away
grace instead. Tell the people you meet who they’re becoming, and trust
that God will help people will find their way toward beautiful things in
their lives without you.
After years of driving that pickup truck, not much worked. I hadn’t
changed the oil in a hundred thousand miles by then. I’m not kidding. The
door locks didn’t work; the windshield wipers didn’t work. The gas cap
didn’t even work. How whacked does a car need to be before the gas cap
doesn’t work?
I was a brand-new lawyer with a wife and a kid on the way and a job
at a big law firm in San Diego. I scraped together enough money for a
suit and a few shirts, but cash was tight. Parking downtown was tight too.