At our church I get to preach at least once a month. We have two services on Sunday mornings that are separated by about 20 min in between. Last month I got done preaching the first service sermon and a lady cam forward for prayer. I had never seen this woman before and have not seen her sense. She proceed to give me some real “Encouragement”. She said “I am going to pray for you. I can tell you are an angry and unhappy man. ” I honestly had never heard anything like this about me before. So what can be some takeaways from situations like this? Here are a few quick thoughts.
1. We can be reminded that our identity is not found in what we do. Our identity is found in who God is and what He has done.
2. We can see our pride. Although this woman was in the wrong, my thoughts about her were wrong as well. Therefore, my sinfulness/need was revealed yet again.
3. We can/do receive comfort and help from our Comforter.
4. We get a reminder of what our people experience during the week. Ministry is hard. But you now what else is hard? Everyone else’s life. Praise God we can have Joy in hardship.
5. We can thank Jesus. Why? Because this person who is sinning against me or you is showing us ourselves. I by grace need to remember that I have done the very same thing this woman did. The crazy thing is that it is God that I have done it to. My distrust of God, my belief that I am smarter than God, my accusations against Him are eternally hideous. I have sinned far worse against God than this woman is sinning against me. Yet….. God has given me grace. What???!!!
Being sinned against provides us the best opportunity for the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel to us.
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