For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me
While we are constantly looking
forward for God to respond our prayers, He Himself also awaits anxiously to
answer each and every single one of them. “God, give me the opportunity to
witness to one of your special children on the plane. Whoever I sit next to,
prepare our hearts and simply bless.” This was my prayer a couple of months ago
as I was buying my Christmas-break plane ticket. Certainly, God was looking
forward for this moment.
It was a rough week. Final
examination’s days are the most challenging time of the semester. It was the
reciprocal feeling among several friends that this semester, by far, has been
the most demanding one of our entire college career. But we all made it; some
running, others jogging, and a few of us crawling with a sore throat and a fever
on the side with no energy whatsoever to celebrate. Sleep deprived and all, I
sat at window-seat 28A with the hope that the eagle would come thru with his
promise to take me 7,000 miles across the American continent. Right next to me
sat Luz María.
Jesus, on
the other hand, was also hoping that I would come through with my promise I
made two months ago. “Are you a Christian?” Luz María asked. “Oh snap! The prayer!” I immediately
thought. “Yes”, I replied. And then her
question followed: “There are so many things in the Bible that are really hard
to understand, you know?” I silently prayed… “God, lead.”
But what
kind of question would she asked? “Bring it on,” I thought. It’s time to unload
all that theology I’ve learned during these semesters. Will I tell her about
the Qal, Nifal, Piel, Pual, Hiphil, Hophal, and Hithpael Hebrew stem? About the
historical Jesus and it’s theology? Or maybe about how we can look at the NA27
and the variants of the text so we can come to a better translation of
the passage for a superior understanding? Naw, I think she’ll ask about some
contradictions the Bible seems to project; I’ll answer with some hermeneutics’
principles.
Her
question, “My daughter suffered an accident in the middle of her 15th
birthday party, and has been laying on a bed for the past six years; she is a
vegetable. Why did God allow that to happen?” She continued on expressing her
sadness and desire for things to be differently. I, on the other hand, went
blank. How do you reply to such question?
Nevertheless,
Jesus was leading the conversation. After sharing a few verses with her, we
landed on Matthew 25:33: "For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was
thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked,
and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you
came to Me.”
I then
whispered, “Do you know that when you bath, feed, clean, kiss and hug your
precious child on that bed, you are bathing, feeding, cleaning, kissing and
hugging Jesus himself? You, Luz María, have the privilege of having a very
intimate relationship with our savior through your special daughter. “ While
looking at the horizon, at 34,000 feet in the air, with a peculiar smile she replied, “Wow!
I had never seen it that way!” A “thank you” and a prayer concluded our
conversation.
The lack of
an associate, bachelor, and/or a master degree in religion is not an impediment
for God to use you mightily to witness and touch His people’s hearts. Remember
that the Holy Spirit is the one who convinces of sin. Therefore, I invite you
today to pray the prayer that will enable you to become and instrument of the
Lord and be part of the blessing to change someone’s perspective of life. You
can change a one today. You are only one short prayer away.
Blessings!
Sergio Ochaeta
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