He started his sermon by holding out an apple and he asked the congregation what they saw.
Congregation: Apple!
Pastor: Really? What else?
C: Err... fruit?
P: What else?
C: Food! Red apple! Creation! Nourishment! Apple seed!
P: Come on, I know you guys can do better. What do you see?
C: Apple tree!
P: Who said that!? Thank you!! Most people see this on my hand for what it is, but you saw the potential possible what this small apple had.
The pastor proceeded to continue with the rest of the sermon with a prayer. What particular stuck on my mind was that he prayed that our spiritual eyes may be opened to see His truths and ways beyond the obvious. Incidentally, the person who said apple tree was the senior pastor's wife.
His sermon was about how we fail to see people and events and the future opportunities and potential it could bring. And because we fail to understand, we fail to anticipate and fail to encourage the future potential to come to pass.
It brought to my mind how different things could have been, if I was not criticized for being bossy when I was a teenager when I was helping out with the school Christian Fellowship, when I could instead have been encouraged that I had the potential for leadership, but good leadership meant tampering with the desire to control, the desire to give orders, the pride to be acknowledged as good and efficient. That good leadership meant humility, the first to serve, the last to be given affirmative praise, to have the skill of encouraging people to rise and meet the needs of the people.
How different could it have been, if someone did not see an annoying person craving for attention and using inappropriate ways to get it, and instead saw a hurt and fallen sinner whose heart could be transformed through God's grace and be used far more greatly than a person who never knew what it meant to be in pain and in need, and embrace the broken-hearted with comfort and understanding.
After all, which parent would look at their new-born baby only sees a small person with no abilities to feed and fend for itself? Most would see future presidents, doctors, astronauts, movers and shakers of the world.
Perhaps this is what it truly means to have the gift of prophecy that Paul wished everyone of the Corinth church had! My life as a Christian really begun to make sense only when I was sat down by Bro O and was told what were the strengths he saw in me, the weaknesses, and the possible things I could be doing for the Lord.
What difference it makes, this lesson of looking beyond the obvious and interpreting people and events with the understanding of God's Word and His character.
Labels: Musings