This puts us in an awkward position. God wants us to do good, show kindness and generosity to others, and so on, but not without discrimination. For one thing, with so many needs in the world I could drive myself insane trying to meet them all, or even trying to figure out which ones I should tackle.
Instead, I believe God wants me to listen to His Spirit. Whatever He wants me to do, He will reveal that to me. His Spirit speaks through His people, through the Bible, and right to my heart, giving me specific direction.
He could speak to me through an unbeliever. After all, He spoke to Balaam through a donkey (but the donkey did know God!), yet we have not sensed Him speaking through this particular unbeliever.
Perhaps we are turned off by her blatant disrespect for God and spiritual things, even though doing good deeds could be called a spiritual thing. Perhaps we suspect she is trying to use us to impress others by her ‘generosity’ which then is really not generosity, but a piggyback version. Perhaps she is even doing this with full knowledge that we will balk—just so she can justify her stand against Christians.
Whatever her reasons, this is making me listen very carefully to the Lord. This morning I read from 1 John 4:1-6:
“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.How can I know what is right and what is not? Jesus is the measure. What does this person think of Jesus? Does what she wants align itself with Him? Would He do this if she asked Him?
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.”
The skeptics and enemies of Jesus also asked Him to do things. They wanted Him to “perform” to prove His claims. They wanted Him to feed them bread when they were hungry. They scoffed and told Him if He really was the Son of God He should come down off the cross.
It seems to me that they didn’t get it; they had no idea of His identity or His purpose. They asked things of Him contrary to God’s will for Him, even though some of their requests seemed perfectly logical to them. In their minds, if He did what they asked, then He’d be proving to them that He really was God’s Son and their Messiah, and shouldn’t He want to prove that?
Up until now, I’ve never been tested like this. I don’t like it at all, partly because by saying ‘no’ to her requests, I will look bad in her eyes and fail to prove that I am a genuine follower of Jesus Christ. I’m torn between having what appears to be a ‘bad testimony’ and being careful to heed the voice of God and be totally misunderstood. As I listen for His Spirit, I have not heard Him asking me to comply with these requests and demands. Even though I don’t want to be misunderstood or misrepresent Him, I don’t want to disobey Him either.
Jesus faced these things all the time. He knew the genuine from the false. He answered requests from needy people who humbled themselves before Him. He said no to those who demanded that He prove Himself, and they hated Him for it and eventually crucified Him.
The laws of our land will likely prevent that from happening to me, but these days I feel somewhat like I’m stretched out on a cross with a hammer swinging over my head. I cannot see the reasons for all this either, but must commit myself “to the one who judges righteously” and do only what He tells me to do.
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