What??? THIS Is a Key to Faith???

A  funny  thing  happened  to  me  at  a  church I visited recently.  The  minister--also visiting--gave  a  really good teaching on how faith is developed through God’s Word and how it is through this faith that we are able to transform ourselves into the reflection of Jesus our Heavenly Father longs to see in us. After a closing prayer, we were dismissed.

As I left I made sure to  tell the minister what a good word he’d had. He thanked me, shook my hand, yet at the same time   seemed to shake me off. Maybe he was in a hurry? Maybe he had a tummy ache? But then his wife, after giving me the once over (apparently to catalogue my clothes and thus determine my worth—not the first time I’ve been judged in this manner), smiled dismissively and-- turned  away.  Sigh  …  I  had  been  found  wanting. I  knew  in  my  heart  of  hearts what  she  was thinking, “This woman isn’t loaded. She won’t be much use to us in the ministry. Don’t need to spend time with her.”

Well.  First, let  me  clarify—this  is  not  sour  grapes  speaking.  It  did  not  wound  me—my  spiritual mentor  (Dennis)  has  taught  me  well—Paul  said  in  Galatians  2:6 (paraphrased)  that  others’  uppityness  was nothing to him—if  others think of us derisively, who cares? It’s what God thinks that matters. There was, however, as I think there is in everyone, a longing to be counted as a person of value. That is why the thought came: “Translator syndrome all over again.”

While I do not want to “diss” the preacher—it would not honor God and I know the man in question loves God and is doing his best (and excels in many, many ways), but, oh, people! While it is good to know how to wield God’s Word to deliver ourselves and our loved ones from the enemy’s clutches, it does not exempt us from the need to put into practice that itty bitty word love. Without it, our words fall flat, their power diminished by our actions.

When I started helping Auntie Trinie interpret for visiting ministers I was shocked to discover what I termed “Translator Syndrome”. Auntie had never complained about it so, with some hesitation, I brought it up, wondering if I was crazy, my perception skewed.

“No,”  she  answered quietly,  “it’s  real.  There  are  ministers  who  treat  the  interpreter  as  if  he/she  is  a microphone, with no feelings whatsoever. They are  simply  a  tool  to  be  used,  dismissed,  and discarded. They seem to attribute no value to us as a person.”

If there weren’t ministers who were the exact opposite we’d be hard pressed to think that there was another way of treating an interpreter. But there are. Carlton Spenser, for many years president of Elim Bible College in Lima, New York, comes to mind, as well as his son-in-law Sa’id Adour. They would look at us, their interpreter, in the eye and thank us in a way that one could tell was heartfelt. When they greeted us they treated us as if we were as important as the visiting honchos. To this day, decades later, the memory of their respect, a heartfelt   display of Christian love, fills my heart with gratitude and warmth, as well as filling me with a desire to follow their example in my treatment of others.

Perhaps you think  I  am  a  selfish  critter,  expecting  to  be  treated regally,  but,  although  I have struggled with selfishness, I don’t think that’s the case here. It’s not honor I look for but respect, an essential tributary of love, to be treated as if I matter as much as a rich person even if I don’t have deep pockets.

Many  years  ago  Brother  Fred  Wise  visited  the  founder  of  Voz  en  el  desierto,  the  Christian magazine I was privileged to work with for fourteen years. As it happened, Brother Wise, who hailed from the mountains of Arkansas, presented a rather humble appearance. I don’t know if it  was  this  or  his  colloquial  manner—I  was  privileged  to  meet  him  later  on  and  in  my  own humble opinion there didn’t seem to be any abrasive characteristics that would grate on one—but something   about him apparently caused the lady in question not to deem him worthy of note. So … the lady sloughed him off onto Auntie.

It was  Auntie, then, who took on the  care of this visitor’s needs.  It was she who was attentive to  him  as  their  guest  (and,  this  is  another  story  best  left  for  another  time,  this  led  to  him blessing her later in a magnanimous way that helped Auntie discern God’s will for her and the magazine). In all her dealings with him she didn’t have any issues with the brother. At the end of  the  visit,  Brother  Wise  told  Auntie  that  he  had  come  with  enough  money  and  with  the intention to buy  Voz its own printing press and  everything else needed to  print the magazine independently  from  the  print  shop  we  used,  something  that  would  have  saved  countless dollars. But because of the way the sister treated him, so dismissively, he decided he was just going  to  invest  that  money  in  other  things.  Later  he  told  Auntie  all  those  investments  went bottoms  up  and  all  that  money  was  lost,  money  that  could  have  been  invested  in  God’s kingdom.

What’s  the  moral  of  the  story?  Every  humble-in-appearance  brother  might  not  be  a  Brother Wise with hidden deep pockets, but it’s a sad story that shows how we can rob ourselves of blessings when we don’t take James 2 to heart: we should treat the poor in the church, those who  have  the  appearance  of  lower  means,  with  the same  respect  as  the  wealthy.  This  is  an integral part of showing love.

Nothing that comes into our life is by happenstance; God has a divine purpose in everything (Romans 8:28-31). I take this encounter, then, as a challenge to me  to  pray  for said  minister  for  a  season, that his excellent ministry might be rounded out and made even better.  It is  possible  to  show  kindness, respect, and love to the destitute, to those who are "of no use" to us.

The church we have the privilege of attending now—I have never before seen such a blanket acceptance and love shown across the board to one and all. It’s amazing. And, in the end, what will  be  the measure by which we are judged?  To have preached X  number  of  times  with  great  knowledge and eloquence to vast crowds —or to have shown love X number of times?

When in doubt, to the law and to the testimony (the Word)! Let’s see what our big brother Jesus has to say about it: “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35).  In Matthew 23 Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees that while they definitely needed to do the weightier matters of the law, at the same time mercy, faith, and kindness should not have been left by the wayside. It’s not the greatness of our works. It’s not the greatness of our name on a church marquee. It’s not the greatness of our fame. It’s how we love that will find favor with God. And it’s that very love that will provide the conduit through which faith can flow (Galatians 5:6).

May God give us the spiritual wisdom and fortitude to cover all that we do to and for others with sincere love.

“For  in  Jesus  Christ  neither  circumcision  availeth  any  thing,  nor

uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love”(Galatians 5:6).

“Be  not  forgetful  to  entertain  strangers:  for  thereby  some  have entertained angels unawares” (Hebrews 13:2).