Devotion

1 Corinthians 13-5

Intro

Good morning, it's me again. You know I just gotta say, I have this weird thing that I do and I just remember random comments that people make. Well the comment I'm thinking of in this moment is a comment that came from John Reeves in reference to me being a church plant resident, and that comment was, “we gonna get a lot of work out of him”.

Well preaching 3 times, and doing two devotions in two weeks, I can say you werent lying. Matter of fact, can I say I walk with a limp now? Nahh honestly, for the sake of my job, I am grateful for the opportunities.

Alright, that's enough playing around. The verse I had was 1 Corinthians 13:5.

It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

There is this really cool unspoken trend of reading these verses and then giving a story of when the Lord taught you a lesson on love in your life. So with that being said, here is mine for today.

Story Of Lee

I had started a new job in the blue collar industry working in Facility Maintenance for SCDC. I came in this roll, with a bachelors degree and 0 years of experience in the corporate blue collar industry; I could not be any more different from the guys that I was working with. To top it all off, these were your good ole boys, cornbread talking, country walking, blue collar grit, white guys, and here I am post white collar job black guy. We could be no more different. Well my closest friend got me the job and I was placed on the crew with him and so he was looking out and giving me the low down. This was basically informing me on who was racist and who wasn't racist to be honest. Well there was this one guy, who was made known to be the most racist and a hot head. Well fast forward a year down the road, I now have a respectful relationship with all of the crew, I know how to work with all of them, they know how to work with me, we have a good time, they know Im a holy roller and I know they need to be loved to Jesus. As I said, we couldn't have been more different. Well I’ve learned a lot about Lee in past year. Ive learned that he is immensely self righteous, hot headed, has the most experience but least amount of skill, he makes most things difficult, and he throws temper tantrums. He lived a hard life, substances, motorcycle wrecks, fights, I mean he actually walked with a limp. The worst thing about Lee, everybody, even the head supervisor who was his friend, everybody hated working with him.

Well I am in the truck with him and another guy on the crew, his son n law, and we are sitting outside of a prison. They are having a conversation that I am not apart of. They were bashing (blue collar bashing) a younger engaged couple for not traveling together to come visit them. I became attached to the conversation because the reason the younger sister would not bring her fiancé to visit, was because they were not married so they refused to stay the night somewhere together. Now, I am locked in on the conversation because they are blue collar bashing the couple and idea and I am getting riled up on the inside but I remained quiet. Well to make matters worse, Lee finally crossed the line. He asked, Richard, she dates a little ..… boy don't she. He said it so casually as I could tell he was lost in the conversation and forgot that I was in the truck. Im blowing steam at this point, my heart is racing, I’m ready to go. I’m trying to decide in my head what's about to happen and so Im thinking to myself.

I thought, today is the day, Im about to cuss him out for everything he is worth. Then I thought, he is a hot head, to he is probably going to want to fight then. Then I thought, we that's perfect because he need a good butt whooping anyways and I get to do it. and then it was well, Im probably going to hurt him, and I could go to jail, and I really don't want to lose this job so what can I do. I thought about telling on him, but I was like nahh I aint no snitch, I really don't want his family to suffer from his ignorance, and I’d rather just beat him and be done with it. By the way, for those who don't understand this part about me, I think extremely fast, all of these thoughts and analysis came in about 1.5 seconds. So it's still real time in the truck. and then it happened. my thoughts began to switch. My flesh is raging internally and the thought cross my mind, would these actions glorify God? and I thought back no but I was disrespected in the worse way. And another thought came, Jesus was disrespected in the worse way. and I thought back but I am black in America, and then the thought came, are you black in America or a follower a Jesus firsts. Alright now I'm physically mad and spiritually mad. And by this time 3 seconds had gone by and I still haven't acted and so I didn't, I just sat back there, mad in silence.

New Life

31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Marks of the True Christian

17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

As a 6 month old baby christian who just learned the Gospel, I didn't know these verses. I could not even tell you who Paul was. So how was I able to be obedient to scripture? It was the Holy Spirit. Our helper. I was led by the Holy Spirit against my own way, to be obedient to scripture that I did not know. And I know this because of the way the story turned out.

We got back to the shop and he attempted to interact with me like he did no wrong. I looked him dead in the eye with a straight face and said nothing. I did not interact with him at all for like 2 weeks. But time passes and I slowly got over it. I began to act as if it never happened even though he never apologized or acknowledged what he did. A couple years past after we all had went our separate ways and I ran into the son n law. He told me that he was on the way to help Lee who is helping a friend. He then said, it's actually a black friend. and he followed up with that and said, you changed him. There it was, the Lord teaching me this lesson on the power of His love.

I’m not saying that Lee is now following Christ, if I had to guess, probably not. But I’m also not saying that he won't become a follower, and if I could have been used by God to get him one step closer, there is hope that he will, and to God be the Glory. What I am saying is that “Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful”. What I am saying, is if we allow the Lord lead us to love, then there is hope for the people in our Radius.

Prayer Promtpt

Pray for your Lee

Give God Glory for leading us in loving well and pray to be led to love well