To Live is Christ — knowing I need to change

A proper interpretation of a Bible passage for preaching and teaching means looking at the context, asking questions like: who wrote this? What did it mean for the original readers? And so on. When I’m reading devotionally, I want to do all those things too, yet sometimes I just want to see the character of God in the passage. What does this say about who He is and what He is like? How will these verses encourage me to trust Him more?

I also read to see what is wrong with me. Applause is nice. Nevertheless, I grow only when I’m willing to see and confess my sin. Although sin shows up in life’s activities, it seems easier to face when God talks to me about my attitudes, rather than after I’ve done something that reveals them.

This week an unkept man stepped in front of me as I was going into a store. He asked if I was having a good week. I immediately thought of the telemarketers that begin their sales pitch with a similar inquiry. They do not really care how I am; they just want my money. So I walked past the man without responding.

Last Sunday’s sermon was about compassion. As soon as I got inside the store, I was convicted that I had not done very well in that department. It wasn’t the fact that I had not spoken to this man. (Didn’t our mother’s teach us not to talk to strangers?) What bothered me the most was the attitude of my heart. I felt extreme rudeness rising in me. Whether the guy was a professional panhandler or genuinely down and out didn’t enter my head. I just wanted him out of my space. Either way, I was not very compassionate.

Today’s verses are not about compassion but they are about God and about me.

And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent. (1 Samuel 15:29). . . . For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. (Romans 11:29)

In the original, the word ‘relent’ is translated in other verses as ‘repent’ — which means to change one’s mind and direction. These verses say that God does not do that. He is the same, and while He may deal with each of us differently, or work in various ways, His heart and intentions are always true and righteous.

One Bible version translates one of these verses with, “God is not a man that He should have regrets.” This means that He is not like me, implying that I do have regrets, and that I do change my mind all the time. It also implies that I need to wish that I had done things differently, and that I need to repent and change.

What would Jesus do? I’m not sure, but it would not be what I did. As a woman, I probably should not engage in conversation with a strange man, even in a public place because that can be dangerous these days. I even wonder of God didn’t give me a friendlier response to protect me. I will never know that, and I cannot blame Him for my bad attitude. I know that whenever I see someone like that man, my first thoughts should not be rude or even assuming. As long as I have any sort of self-protective, superior notion, the Holy Spirit will not use me.

The bottom line is that the sermon, as good as it was, didn’t challenge or change my lack of compassion. God knew that I needed to see that my innermost thoughts are still not what they should be. He does not need to relent or repent, but I do.