(To read True Colors,(part one) click the link.)
Years ago, my husband told me the story of a truck driver he met. The discouraged driver explained that on one of his runs, he had to wait for several hours to be unloaded. It happened to be on a Sunday morning, and there was a church nearby, so he decided to join the morning service.
When he walked into the church wearing his jeans and boots, many looked at him, and then turned their heads. He knew he wasn’t dressed in church clothes, and he was conscious that his long hair might make him stand out, but he felt drawn to find out more about God, so he went on into the sanctuary.
After a few minutes of sitting there alone, with no one greeting him or even meeting his eyes, an usher stopped by and tapped him on the shoulder.
“I think you’re in the wrong place.”
The driver looked around and said, “I don’t see any sign that says not to sit here.”
Without any embarrassment at all, the usher told him, “You obviously don’t belong here. You need to go somewhere else.”
“Are you asking me to leave?” the driver was getting angry now.
“Yes, and if you don’t keep your voice down, I will have to call the police.”
“Don’t worry,” the driver said, his voice rising. “I’ll leave and never come back!”
The usher nodded, relieved. “Very good.”
So the man left.
His bitterness at the way he had been treated was obvious. And when he told the story to Jim, he was becoming angry all over again at the way the church had treated him.
But Jim told him that Jesus would never have done that. He explained that the driver’s desire to go into the church was in response to God calling him. Unfortunately, he went into a place where God wasn’t.
God hates “a proud look. . .a false witness that speaks lies, and he that sows discord among the brethren.” (Proverbs 6:17a, 19)
Jim encouraged him to try again, to go to another church that was true to God. Then, after he got the man’s permission, Jim prayed with him. The man was glad to pray, and left with a lighter heart.
Many months later, a stranger came up to Jim.
“Do you remember me?” the man said, standing back so Jim could get a good look at his face.
“No, I’m sorry,” Jim said.
The man’s eyes danced with joy.
“You prayed with me a while ago.”
Jim shook his head. “You’ll have to give me more. I just don’t remember.”
The man laughed, and reminded Jim about the discouraged, long-haired truck driver who had been kicked out of church, and said,
“That was me!”
He gave Jim a big bear hug, and told him this story:
After talking with Jim, the truck driver left that day, and drove through Battle Creek, MI. While he was at a stop light, he heard a street preacher on the corner. So he parked his truck and went to join the listening crowd.
After the sermon was over, the driver asked if he could talk to the preacher. A little while later, they were both kneeling by the side of the road, praying. The driver repented of his sins while the cars went by, and asked Jesus to come into his life and change his heart.
From that moment on, he was so changed by the love of Jesus that he couldn’t wait to share the gospel with everyone he met. When he was at a truck stop that night, he sat outside near his truck with his Bible, and asked the people who passed by if they knew Jesus.
After a while, he had gathered quite a group of people who had regular runs all over the country. They would join up at a predetermined time, and have Bible studies in the lot. If someone had an empty trailer, he or she might open up the back to provide some shelter, and the Bible study would happen in the trailer.
The meetings continued to happen, and other truck drivers were saved. These fiery new Christians would do the same thing the first driver did when they got to their next stopping place; they would sit with an open Bible and invite people to join them! And so the meetings grew in size and number, all over this country. I do hope and pray that they are continuing to this day.
The truck driver Jim met was really an evangelist. The pain and humiliation of church rejection happened so that his true colors would emerge. God had designed him to lead many people to Christ through his job as a truck driver. And when the time came to “activate him,” God called him through a street preacher, for he was to become the same kind of a preacher, only to his fellow truck drivers.
Evil, dressed in a church usher’s outfit, tried to fool the driver into thinking that God didn’t want him; but God used a “chance” encounter with Jim to encourage him. (That “chance” was all arranged by God from before the foundation of the world!) In the end, the driver didn’t find God in a fancy church; he found him on the street, kneeling on the pavement.
God meets us where we are and uses us to minister to other people; many times, they are people that we already know, or the people we meet as we live our lives. God doesn’t look for “perfect” people to save; He doesn’t want to lose ANYONE.
The “perfection” of men means nothing, anyway. The only perfection any of us can have is through the blood of Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave Himself for us. He lived the perfect life as an example for us, so that we would know how to live. (And it looks nothing like what most people consider “perfect.” God’s standards are higher than ours.)
Jesus ate with prostitutes and sinners of all kinds, reaching those who were, quite literally, untouchable. He healed the lepers. He restored hearing to the deaf. He opened the eyes of the blind and raised the dead.
Most “perfect” people won’t get near a person who has leprosy, or a deaf person, a blind person, or a social outcast of any kind. The greatest danger is the social stigma. But God doesn’t evaluate us by those standards.
Think of a person you know in real life who is challenged in some way. Who ministers to them? That minister is doing God’s work. Those who ignore, make fun of, or torment those who are already struggling are enemies of God, for we are all made in His image.
Even the bad events that happen in this world because of sin are redeemed in the life of each Christian by the work of Jesus. God promises that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. . . .If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:28, 31)
God uses closed doors, ill health, rejection, divorce, and all manner of sad things to prepare us for His work. God doesn’t want us to suffer, but Jesus suffered, too. What makes us think we would escape suffering?
But Jesus promised that He would never abandon us, even in suffering, even when we get old and struggle with arthritis or incontinence or any other embarrassing thing. He is right there with us, helping us through it all. God has even promised to use those challenges to our advantage in some way. In His hands, they become excellent training opportunities.
Closed doors encourage us to try somewhere else. Ill health may help us slow down and pay attention. Rejection will drive us to evaluate ourselves and repent, or else seek acceptance somewhere else. And even divorce, which God hates, can free a person to travel or allow them to commit to a task that was impossible while they were married. In a Christian’s life, God can use anything to bring good. That is why we are encouraged to look to God and give thanks–for everything.
A lot of damage is being done in God’s name. Deception is everywhere, and we must be on guard not only in our own lives, but we must watch out and protect the vulnerable people around us.
Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they will see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
The good works God has planned for you may not be what you consider to be great works. Jim didn’t even remember praying with the truck driver that day. But God used Jim’s simple obedience to prepare for a great work to happen in that truck driver/evangelist’s life; and who knows how many others that God has reached because of it? If God wants you to do it, it isn’t a small thing.
“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)
Without God’s inspiration, we don’t even have the ability to WANT to do something good. So if you feel like you should do something good for someone, that’s God working in you! He has prepared something for you to do, so just do it!
Blaze brightly, my dear friends! May the light that God has placed inside you kindle those around you, igniting their hearts with passion for our God! May God’s protection be all around you, and may He inspire you with His Holy Spirit.
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