Joined at the Heart

“But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:17 NIV).

Think about this. God chose to limit Himself and what He wants to do in the world by joining Himself to us. His purpose for every person on the planet is to live in total dependency upon Him. He delights in doing everything FOR us, IN us, THROUGH us, and AS us. We are not a liability to Him. We are an asset. We are not an irritation, but an instrument. We are the branch, and He is the Vine. Jesus wants to manifest and express Himself uniquely through us. That is why He made us all different. He loves variety. Different is not wrong. It is just… different. But with us, sometimes different provokes the flesh to judge and be critical of others.

“We don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at Him that way anymore.” (2 Corinthians 5:16-17).

(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)

Nevertheless, it is so easy to allow the flesh to judge people by how they look. It happened to me not long ago. We were coming home from a Network 220 Conference in Plano, Texas, and I fell into the judgment trap… again. As we were standing in line to check-in for our flight home, a very pretty young lady with holes in the knees of her jeans, high heels, and a sheik blouse passed us. I told Daniel, “Look at that. There is a lady that is only into appearances. More concerned with how the outside looks rather than the beauty on the inside.”

Daniel agreed, so he is complicit in my sin. Misery loves company, and I needed some, and he was available.  Anyway, the Lord convicted me right away. “Kenny, I alone know what is in her heart. You look at the outward appearance, but I look at the heart.”

“I know it, Lord. I knew it before I finished thinking it. I’m sorry I give in to my flesh as often as I do.” And I just passed it off thinking I would never see her again. Not! We sat down at Gate 16 and waited to board our flight. Low and behold, here comes that little lady and sits down at our Gate 16. I looked and Daniel, and he looked at me. We both knew God was not finished with this lesson quite yet.

The flight was booked solid. I sat down on the aisle… seat 17c. Right across the aisle from me was Dr. Joe Nesbitt and Michael, his pastor. A lot of Grace Life International folks were on the plane heading back to Charlotte. The aisle seat beside Dr. Joe remained empty until just prior to takeoff, when out of nowhere, my judgment lady sat down right between me and Joe. Okay, Lord. Now, You have my attention.

I began reading the book David Gregory had given me at the conference. It is one of the best books I’ve ever read about Christ in us, the hope of glory. I’ll tell you more about the book in the days ahead. But let’s get back to the story. As I read the book on the plane, I noticed that the lady kept looking over to see what I was reading. She was playing solitaire on her phone. I knew the Lord had put her there for a reason, and I kept wondering why Dr. Joe didn’t talk to her. The Lord said to me, “I didn’t tell Dr. Joe to talk to her. I want to talk with her through you.”

As the plane landed and came to a halt, I stood up. She got up to allow Dr. Joe to get his bag. And there we were standing in the aisle together. The Lord said, “What are you waiting on. I want to talk to her.”

I spoke to Dr. Joe first. “Dr. Joe, Now I know that you are God’s favorite. You have to be for Him to let you sit on the plane next to this beautiful young lady for 2 and 1/2 hours.”

He smiled, and she chuckled. “Is Charlotte your home?” I asked.

“No, I’m from Texas. I’m coming to Charlotte to see a friend… my boyfriend,” she replied. “Do you live in Charlotte?” she asked.

“Close. We live in a little town called Lake Wylie, South Carolina.”

“What brought you to Texas?” she asked.

“We’ve been to a conference.”

“What was the conference about?” she inquired.

“It was a conference based on Galatians 2:20. I am crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. They had some wonderful speakers. All they talked about was how crazy wild Jesus is about us all, and how Jesus desires to live His life in us, for us, through us, and as us. All we have to do is just get out of His way. He will do the rest.” 

“That sounds very interesting,” she said as if she truly was.

I held up the little book that I was reading and said, “This is the most concise account of what we talked about at the conference that I’ve ever read. It is God, Himself, telling us about Himself, and how much He loves us. It’s an amazing little book.”

“I noticed you reading it and kept wondering what it was about,” she said.

Jesus was doing real good talking to her up until this point. Then He pushed the envelope on me. “Kenny, give her the book.”

“Lord, you gotta be kidding. This is the only copy I have. I have great plans for this little book.”

“So do I. And she is standing right here in front of you. I want to give her the book, but you don’t have to. You have free will, you know,” said the Lord as only He could.

My arm felt paralyzed, and I had to make it hand over the book. “Here, why don’t you take this copy. I know you will enjoy it.” Jesus said this for me, because I couldn’t have said it. I hated to give my book away, especially since I had not finished it. Then the Lord floored me with what she said next.

“Really? Thank you so much. You just do not know how timely this is.”

Our eyes met and through Jesus’ eyes I could see the longing of her heart for Love, Himself. Jesus, the great lover of our souls, so wants to love everyone to life. But He has chosen to only do that WITH us, not in spite of us. He patiently waits for us to give Him free rein to connect with people. And as He flows through us, the sweetness of His love and grace floods our soul, and we wonder why we would ever resist His grace. Until the next person walks by with holes in their jeans and high heel shoes. And we go back to the beginning and start all over again.

Blessings,

Kenny