God’s Word Changes Us
As we meditate on Scripture verses, they start to sink into our minds and hearts.
There's an elderly woman who lives relatively close to where I do. Because of her age and health condition, she remains completely bed-ridden pretty much all day. Once a week, I visit her and help her bring the garbage bins out to the curb for garbage collection. She also calls me from time to time to ask for help if she needs anything.
One evening, I got a call from her asking for help. Her beloved cat had gotten loose and was now outside of the house in the middle of the night and out in the winter cold. I'll be honest, I wasn't very enthusiastic to help. It was quite late in the day already. It was very cold outside. And I remember it being my birthday. My wife and I had already selected a movie to watch together that evening. Searching for a cat in the middle of the night and out in the freezing cold was not at the top of my list of things that I really wanted to do that night. Additionally, who knows how long it was going to take us to find the feline? We could potentially be there for hours.
As I was contemplating on what to do, a verse from the Bible bubbled up in my mind and heart: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:31 ESV). It's a verse that I've pondered upon many times in my years as a follower of Jesus. As I sat there thinking about what to do, I realized that this was an opportunity for me to love my neighbor as myself. If I had a beloved pet who had gotten loose, wouldn't I go looking for it to bring it home? And so, I told my wife about the situation and we went together to help this elderly woman find her cat.
When we got to the woman's home, my wife helped the neighbor with her dinner that had gotten cold while I went to go search for the cat outside. I honestly thought I would be there for an hour or so. I didn't have a clue where to even begin looking for this cat. But the Lord brought success to my search. Within just a couple of minutes, I found the cat and brought him back to where he belonged. The best part: our evening plans weren't completely derailed. We made it back home with enough time to watch the movie we had chosen.
Here's what I learned that day: God's Word changes us. As we meditate on Scripture verses, they start to sink into our minds and hearts. God uses these verses to speak to us when the appropriate time comes. And when we get a prompting from God, we're called to obey it. In fact, God will be the one to give us the courage and the power to obey and please Him in the end.
Barnabas the Monastic
Servant of Christ. Husband. Dad. Modern Monastic. I have a wild ambition in life: get as close to the Lord Jesus Christ as I can while on earth. I explore and integrate ancient Christian monk wisdom in modern everyday life. Lives in Canada.
