visit the porthole in my local coffee shop. For those of you not in-the-know, the porthole is a large, perfectly round window in the java house. I wanted to take a break from the world and journal to myself -- well, I shouldn't say myself. I'd been wanting to write down a prayer for a looooooooooong time. The sky was clear and the sun was shining in, warming me from the cold I had just fled from. I took out my chronicles and my trusty pencil and began to write. If you still haven't got the idea, I LOVE writing. Getting all my thoughts organized on a piece of paper is one of the things I enjoy most.As I basked in the warmth of the sun and prayed with my written words. One by one I went through the members of my family, the special prayer requests, the friends, co-workers, and people who are special to me. Then, a thought entered my mind. Pray for the lost. I began praying for the people who didn't know God. Now, once again, for those of you who do not know, my exposure to the "un-saved world" is VERY limited. Everyone I know is saved. The Lord put it on my heart to pray for people I had never seen before...
This may sound like an odd concept to some, but not really if you look at it. God works in the lives of everybody -- saved and lost. True there is nothing I can do for people I do not know, but God sees my heart. For my diligence, I know I will receive a blessing for praying. And as I prayed, my heart broke for the lost, and I truly understood the phrase, "love the sinner; hate the sin."
"Love the sinner; hate the sin." Sounds trivial, doesn't it? I mean, can't we hate people like Adolf Hitler? Joseph Stalin? Sedam Hussein? But God said "He is not willing that any perish" (2 Peter 3:9) ANY!!! That does not mean that no one will perish, but that God does not want them too. Think of this when you desire to hate the person rather than the sin: 100 years into eternity, that person will be in unimaginable, unrelenting TORTURE, but it wont end. 1,000 years into eternity that person will be in unimaginable, unrelenting TORTURE still, but it wont end. 10,000; 100,000; a million; a billion; a trillion -- BUT IT WILL NEVER END. When you think about what the lost have to look forward to in this light, you cannot help but bleed for them.As I finished up my prayer and closed my journal, I gazed out the window. The Lord had filled my heart with peace and I was overflowing with joy when a voice broke into my thoughts:
"Mam," said the coffee jerk, "you look so peaceful, I could just draw a picture of you."
6 comments:
Hmmm...I think I know someone who could use this lesson. And quite frankly, can't we all? There is a time in every persons life when we dislike someone and wish terrible things on them. But if we step back and look at the points you just made, any humane person would have to regret the things he thought, and feel utterly ashamed. So, as of this moment I will make a late new years resolution; when I think badly of someone, I will also try to think of their eternal state. Hopefully, this will improve me.
Why is the coffee dude a jerk?He might be lost. o.o (lol jk) But a very good point!
-Kaci E.
Ha! Ha! I called him a "coffee jerk" because I was thinking of how in a soda fountain the drink maker was called a soda jerk (he had to jerk on the taps to get soda). I figured the drink maker in a coffee house was called a "jerk" too.
Ooh!Ok,thats cool.One more piece of random trivia!!lol :D
-Kaci E.
That's so cool. Did you get into a discussion with the guy? :)
Technically yes. We talked about art :S
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