Last weekend, I watched a testimony of a Muslim woman who was abused and rejected throughout her life. Finally, she found herself homeless in the United States with her children and not being able to speak English. One day as the seasons changed it was getting colder, she and her children went into a store with coats. As soon as they entered, the lady who owned the store hugged the children and was raising her hand saying something this Muslim lady did not understand. Her children clung to the woman, and they said the lady told them they could go home with her. Finding the whole situation strange, this homeless lady told her children to come to her, but they wouldn’t. They were tired, dirty, and hungry, and felt welcomed and safe in this woman’s warm embrace. The lady kept on waving her hands and saying something the mother didn’t understand so she asked her children who spoke perfect English what the lady was saying, and they said she was praising the Lord for bringing them into her life. The Muslim lady did not understand what was happening but acquiesced to the children’s request to go with this stranger as they would not let her go.
They went home with her, and she told them to take whatever they wanted out of the refrigerator and cupboards, along with giving this perplexed mother and her children a bedroom and a nice big bed to sleep in. Later she paid for the Muslim lady to learn English and got her on welfare so she could move out into her own apartment with her children. She also gave her a job in her store and this Muslim lady witnessed this woman’s loving behavior towards everyone who came in. She could not understand why this lady loved her and her children, she continued wearing her full Muslim garb and doing her prayers five times a day, and she even tried to do things to get her benefactor angry, but she remained calm and would say, “Jesus loves you.” Yes, this hospitable lady was a Christian and she later told this Muslim lady that she prayed for a daughter as she only had sons and God gave her as a spiritual daughter. She had seen her and her children walking by the store many times and prayed for God to have them go into the store so she could take care of them. God answered her prayers and that is why she praised Him so much that day when they entered the store. The Muslim lady later became a Christian after having an encounter with Christ, all along her spiritual mother prayed for her without judging her and just loving her unconditionally.
I was really convicted by this testimony as this generous lady’s life looked so much like Christ and as I quickly examined my life, I could not see that clear reflection of Christ. For this, I am greatly saddened. This storeowner exhibited Christ’s sacrificial love and you can clearly see the fruit of the Spirit in her life. I can’t say the same for my life. I wouldn’t pray to bring people I didn’t know into my home, that wouldn’t seem wise. What if they were dangerous? And think of the inconvenience of people taking up my space and the cost of keeping three growing hungry children who are not even related to me and who are of a different culture. The “what ifs” and the thoughts of my inconvenience and expense do not demonstrate God’s love or the fruit of the Spirit.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Galatians 5:22-24
Unfortunately, my flesh has not been crucified enough, my love seems to be waning; I am more miserable than joyous; my heart and mind is often in turmoil instead of in peace; I definitely do not want to suffer long, I don’t have the patience for it; my kindness can be lacking at times; I am often not doing the good that God would want me to do; I am not as faithful as I would like to be; after years of trying to work on being gentle, I am still not there yet; and I don’t often control my desires as I should. I am just thankful that God still loves me with all my imperfections, or else I would be in a lot of trouble. I am truly a work in progress and God is helping me along in this process because He wants me to be in His image and likeness. So, I am going through the painful stormy season which is pruning me under His watchful eye. I believe it is for my good, even though it doesn’t feel good. I would rather God cut off all that is not bearing good fruit in me and throw it into the fire as I do not want to be a worker of iniquity who gets left out of Heaven.
“Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. Luke 13:24-28
Going to church and doing a lot of church activities will not guarantee us entry in the kingdom of God. Many of us may think we are in God’s kingdom, but we do not live like Christ. Preaching, evangelizing, and giving to the poor may all seem to be Christlike, but it is our heart that God looks at and He knows what is going on in it beyond the outward appearance. Is our heart a reflection of Christ’s heart?
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