One morning, I stopped at a Sunoco station on my way to the bus depot to fill up my Datsun 710 when I was warmly greeted by a young man . . . a graduate student from Nigeria. We exchanged pleasantries and went our separate ways.
But a strange thing happened. I felt compelled to speak to Him about the Lord. So that night I asked Sally to fix me a plate of brownies. My plan was to deliver the brownies the next morning and tell him about the love of God.
The next morning, I headed off to the Sunoco station, brownies in tow. However, during the 20 minute commute I began to entertain doubts. “Maybe he won’t understand the gesture. Maybe he will think I am too forward. Maybe he’s allergic to walnuts . . maybe . . maybe.” And by the time I got to the station I had talked myself out of it.
Well, I wrestled with the Lord over this all day and night and in the wee hours, repented. “I’ll take him the brownies the next morning. I’ll need gas anyway.”
When I pulled up to the pump, somebody else came out to pump my gas. (remember when this was standard practice?) (Now, only New Jersey!) When I paid the $5.00 for the fill up (remember, this was 1977) I asked the attendant, “where’s the young man who usually pumps my gas?”
“Oh, INS picked him up yesterday and deported him. Some kinda' mix-up with his visa. It’s a shame too. Good guy, hard worker. Doesn’t seem quite fair to me.”
Now, I have no idea what, if any difference this simple act of kindness and conversation would have made. Maybe none, I don’t know. But since then I've learned that I'm not in management, I’m in sales. If God asks, we should speak and act and obey!
So that morning, as I sat in my bus delivering students and eating brownies, I realized the importance of instant obedience. I’ve often thought about that young man and I hope . . . I hope the next person God sends into his life will be instantly responsive and not blink. There’s a lot at stake.
This incident reminded me of an excerpt from one of my devotionals:
“Instant obedience is the only kind of obedience there is; delayed obedience is disobedience. Every time God calls us to any duty, He is offering to make a covenant with us; doing the duty is our part, and He will do His part in special blessing."
"The only way we can obey “in the selfsame day,” as Abraham did. To be sure, we often postpone a duty and then later on do it as fully as we can. It is better to do this than not to do it at all. But it is then, at best, only a crippled, disfigured, halfway sort of duty-doing; and a postponed duty never can bring the full blessing that God intended, and that it would have brought if done at the earliest possible moment."It is a pity to rob ourselves, along with robbing God and others, by procrastination. “In the selfsame day” is the Genesis way of saying, “Do it now.”
Today’s Prayer: Lord, teach me to live this way and give me the grace to do it:
"I’ll say yes, Lord, yes, to Your will and to your way. I’ll say yes, Lord, yes. I will trust you and obey. When You’re Spirit speaks to me, With my whole heart I’ll agree, And my answer will be yes, Lord, yes."Question. Has God ever used a life experience as a "learning moment" in your life? If so, please share it by posting your comments below.
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