People keep interrupting me when i’m trying to get stuff
done. Sure, sometimes i’m only resting or doing something for entertainment,
but other times there are important things i need to finish that i had
specifically allotted time to complete. Who do these people think they are,
interrupting my schedule?
Do nothing from
selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than
yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the
interests of others. -Philipp1ans
2:3-4
The heart of man plans
his way, but the L0RD establishes his steps. -Pr0verbs
16:9
So often i will elevate my to-do list to such importance
that i feel as though everyone else—even people i don’t know—should know exactly
what i want to do, how i want it done, and stay out of the way unless they are
of some value to my task. But no matter where i’ve lived, for some reason
people just can’t get on board with this. i’ve found this to be a source of my
frustration in my life, and thankfully, Father in his mercy has convicted me in
regard to my pride and broadened my perspective a bit through watching the life
of Chr1st.
J3sus was often on his way to do something (pretty much
always something of more significance than anything i’ve got going on) when
life was interrupted by other people.
On his way to
restore life to a little girl, he stops to talk with the bleeding woman who
touched him (Mt 9).
On his way out of
the temple, he “passed by” a man born blind and stopped to heal him after his
disciples asked about that man’s sins (Jn 9).
On his way to
seek Father in private after the death of John the Bapt1st, he stops to heal
the sick and feeds the five thousand (Mt 14).
On his way to
Jerusa1em for Passion week, “passing through” Jericho he stops to stay a while
with Z@cchaeus (Lk 19).
There are so many times throughout the G0spels where it
speaks of J3sus as being en route to a place or event only to be stalled by an
interruption that he seizes as an opportunity to give glory to G0d. Even more
striking is that the interruptions are almost exclusively by people whom
society had deemed unworthy of their time. These were the blind, the lame, the
lepers, the sinners, the outcasts. A good, ch-going man wouldn’t be caught dead
speaking to them or spending time with them, just like the priest and Levite in
the parable of the Good Samaritan; however, J3sus
touches the unclean leper,
takes the hand of the lame,
speaks with the blind beggar,
eats with the sinners and tax collectors.
He has very close and personal contact with people who most
(i must confess, often myself included) would pass by avoiding eye contact,
although perhaps offering a silent pr@yer to Father on the person’s behalf in
an effort to maintain a clean conscience. All too often i have asked Father to
send someone to help a person when i am already standing right there, available
if only i would lay down my task, my reputation, my pride.
i am called a part of the Body for a reason. A living body
doesn’t just exist; it has function and purpose. As a part of the Body, i do
too. In working, sometimes hands and feet get dirty. i must be willing to do
the same. J3sus is not asking me to do something he didn’t do; rather, he is
asking me to follow the very model he set forth.
He had tasks of eternal importance, and yet he was willing
to be present in every moment of his time on this earth. Though he did finish
every bit of the mission that he came to complete, he was also aware of the
numerous “good works, which G0d prepared beforehand, that we should walk in
them” (Eph 2:10).
This has been a difficult lesson to learn, and quite often i
find myself still frustrated when i’m interrupted. (Ironically enough, as i was
writing this blog post, my wife asked me to go to the store with her.
Thankfully, this was already on my mind!) It is in meditating upon J3sus that
my pride and frustrations melt away. Philipp1ans 2:3-4 is quoted above. The
next verses put the focus completely on J3sus:
Have this mind among
yourselves, which is yours in Chr1st J3sus, who, though he was in the form of
G0d, did not count equality with G0d a thing to be grasped, but emptied
himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the
point of death, even death on a cross. -Philipp1ans
2:5-8
J3sus, completely holy, absolutely pure, fully satisfied,
perfectly joyful in his communion with Father in heaven was interrupted.
By me.
i was dead in my transgressions, a hater of G0d, lover of darkness,
worshipper of self.
J3sus saw me in my blind, dead, helpless state, and allowed himself to be
interrupted from glory in heaven to come and die a gruesome death on a cross,
facing the wrath of G0d on my behalf. Even the small interruptions during his
ministry when he would pause to help the helpless point to his overarching
mission. Perfect relationship with Father was interrupted by his death, burial,
and resurrection. And what a glorious interruption it is.
Therefore G0d has
highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so
that at the name of J3sus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and
under the earth, and every tongue confess that J3sus Chr1st is L0rd, to the
glory of G0d the Father. -Philipp1ans
2:9-11
