Thursday, June 13th, 2024
For as long as I can remember I have always considered myself a people watcher. In my pre-believer days it surely had more of a judgmental quality to it. In more recent days it’s a chance to practice my prophetic skills. I truly believe it is a quality God designed within me, it just needed some sanctification.
Whether we enjoy being around people or not, we can all come up with examples of interactions with others that leave us feeling joyful and encouraged and those that leave us feeling anything but. Some people carry the joy of the Lord everywhere they go and freely spill it on everyone that they come across. Others are carrying such burdens, hurt an/or unrighteousness that they unfortunately trip up many who get stuck in their trail of heaviness and anger. I used to be one of those. I am training to be a joy-spiller instead.
Lamentations 2:15 says:
15 All who pass by clap their hands at you;
They hiss and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that is called
‘The perfection of beauty,
The joy of the whole earth’?”
Jerusalem was and continues to be an important place Biblically. It’s the holy city, the city of David and the place where Solomon built the temple. Its name is literally translated as “possession/foundation of peace” (Lexicon). But look again at what that scripture says. That same place became one that people walked by and mocked because it had lost its perfect beauty and joy. What was once the place where God dwelt had become so corrupted by evil rulers that it was spewing its own trail of heaviness and anger.
Final Thoughts…
When people leave our presence, has our foundation of peace rubbed off on them or are they instead mocking our spiritual beauty and joy? I want to be such a carrier of the presence and love of God that people can’t help but get a splash of it every time they see me. It’s not about me and who I am, it’s about who God is in me and how clear His reflection is to those who are around me. I don’t ever want to be one of those people whom others walk away from and say, “And they call themselves a Christian?” or “If that’s what God does for people, I’ll pass”. Lord, teach us how to be carriers of Your glory. We don’t ever want to turn others away from You. Show us how we can spread Your essence everywhere we go.