Working in the “car business” for the last 15 years has not put me in the middle of a christian environment but it has allowed me to see that speaking love and truth are a natural way to open conversations.
It seems that everyone these days has a very sensitive “B.S” meter, they can tell if you are trying to fool them or lure them into your court of ideas or draw them to your side to help you with a scheme or a raise or a promotion or another multi-level marketing idea. If we want to engage people we must disarm their B.S meter…but how?
Jesus LITERALLY walked around drawing people near to Him, healing the sick, casting out evil spirits, feeding the lost, loving and fixing the broken, speaking the truth where it had been veiled to the masses, then he was murdered so we could have abundant and eternal life. His life up until death revealed a natural way of life, super natural to those who do not believe in healing, miracles, and prophecy. He revealed what is meant to be a normal life for one calling themselves a christian.
The Natural part of supernatural starts with love, not fake plastic love but the deep knowing love, not kisses but that deep knowing you feeling in your gut (this is disarming to the B.S meter). That love when someone near to you dies and your friend shows up just to sit with you and let you talk, they don’t try to answer all the questions but they just sit there quietly and their presence alone loves on you. This love is the person showing up with a meal as you are trying to figure out dinner on a Friday night after a hard week, they just know. It is a love that brings a colleague to ask “is everything okay?” at just the right moment then listen to your story. It is the fatherly figure who comes out in the middle of the night to gather you from a party, change a car tire, pull you out of a deep mud hole, or hear the results “I am, or she is pregnant” without pointing a finger when you know there’s a problem.
Jesus said ,”They will know you are my close friends (disciples) because your love for each other.” (John 13:35) Jesus modeled love not power, power is borne through love but love is not borne through power. Love is the natural side of the supernatural, it is the door way to the miraculous, love is the door way but we so often forget to just notice and love people. Life gets us all riled up and we miss the hurting broken people that really need love. In the midst of us taking the time to notice and love the hurting people around us healing will follow, bones will mend by a word, hearts will be healed both physically and spiritually, marriages will be saved, the mentally bound will be set free (yes I did imply it should be this simple), the dead will be raised and more…but we must notice and we must dispense love.
In my everyday life I look for those who are limping, hurting, depressed looking, etc. then I engage them. When they realize I have nothing to gain, I am sincere, they open up and healing flows from God into these people. It’s brilliantly simple and beautiful…it even works in and around the “car business.”
Ask God for a love encounter for yourself today, ask that you encounter a Father’s heart like no other father figure you have ever known. Since God is real you will encounter love and acceptance like never before, just ask.