Yesterday, Beverly had a yearning for
some wedding cookies at a local doughnut shop. As we approached the door, there
was a couple leaving the shop carrying a microwave oven which I thought was
rather odd, another first for me! As soon as we went inside, I asked the
manager if they were into selling appliances as well. He remarked that the
couple was the one-thousandth customer. Incidentally, we were the one-thousand and one…! The company had been in business for years, but this store was new. I
asked him if there were any discounts on the doughnuts for second place; he
quickly shot me down. It doesn’t hurt to ask, yes?
When we got back into the car with our
small bag of wedding cookies, Beverly said to me, “If you hadn’t texted in the
parking lot before heading over here, we might have won that microwave” … So, I
thought to myself, “I failed to see the value of texting before I got a smartphone, and I wouldn’t have even purchased a smartphone had Beverly not insisted
on making the transition from a dumbphone to a smartphone. So I concluded it was my dear wife who was really at fault that we missed out on a free microwave,
not yours truly!”
I kept my thoughts to myself because I
knew she wouldn’t buy into that line of reasoning because purchasing smartphones was really a great idea on her part, and I couldn’t afford to concede
that point to her at that time. We didn’t really need a microwave, nor were we
upset with the situation or with each other. We enjoyed the harmless sparring
and laughed it off. In Bev’s way of thinking she was in need of a sugar rush,
and my texting delayed that desire causing us to lose a free microwave in the
process. Technically, therefore, Michael was at fault; I get that, living with a
blonde!
If there was a positive in all of this was that I didn’t text and drive! Two days earlier a young woman did a very unwise thing by driving with one hand on the wheel and texting with the other while heading into my lane on a narrow two-lane country road. We both swerved to miss each other. Ironically, smartphones can bring out the dumb in all of us if we’re not careful.
I had experienced being at the wrong
place at the wrong time before but never being at the right place at the wrong
time in a physical way until the doughnut shop incident. Since we were there on
a whim, this had really nothing to do with being late, per se, but it was a
timing thing nonetheless. Since things that cross our path are not by chance, I
was pondering on the spiritual significance of the day; I lost a microwave oven.
Such reflection is born out of a
belief that there is no such thing as luck or random chaos in the life of a regenerated
believer in Jesus Christ, for God is involved intimately in the life of every
one of His children on every level, even down to the molecular. He loves and
cares for us that much and is involved in every detail of our lives whether we
realize that wonderful truth or not (cf. Heb 13:5). Coram Deo is all about
practicing the presence of God in our lives(Psa 16:8; 139:1-12). Jesus didn’t
die on the cross to keep His distance from us but to bridge the gap between God
and man created by sin. The proof of that closure is seen at the cross and the
gift of the Holy Spirit who now lives in everyone who has accepted Jesus as their
Lord and Savior! You can’t get any closer to God than having the Holy Spirit
living right within your very heart and walking in the Spirit!
I realize illustrations of spiritual
truth have limitations, but there is a corollary between the physical and spiritual
timing of going through a door. My focus was on the timing of this whole thing.
A couple enters a door, buys some doughnuts, and walks out with a microwave.
They had no idea what was about to happen once they walked through the door and
made a purchase. They were at the right place at the right time physically and
received a blessing for being the one-thousandth customer. If they return next
week and happen to be the eleven-hundredth customer there will be no blessing
apart from some tasty doughnuts, but in the spiritual realm, the blessings are
in abundance with obedience.
When Beverly and I walked through the
door, we were at the right place at the wrong time! I was doubly disappointed;
not only did they not carry any plain buttermilk doughnuts; I missed out on the
microwave oven by minutes (the time it took to text, maybe...). So let me
suggest some examples of a timing issue on the physical level coupled with
a spiritual condition of the heart: going to church (the right place) but your heart is not in it
(the wrong time), worshiping with the lips but the heart is far from God, doing
the right thing for God but you left your first love, serving God not out of delight but out of mere duty, and giving to God grudgingly. Another way of looking at
it is to imagine going physically through a door but your heart (motive) is in disagreement
with your actions; it’s somewhere else, figuratively speaking! It could be right
actions but a wrong attitude in service to God.
We know God will bless us for being at the
right place at the right time every time, unlike the doughnut shop, but the
Bema will most certainly reveal being at the right place at the wrong time; again,
the wrong time here involves the motive of the heart. The motive had nothing to do with
the doughnut shop; it was merely unfortunate timing on our part, robbing us of a
blessing.
Bad timing,
however, can rob us of eternal blessings because the motive of the heart was
impure or out of alignment with the purpose of going through a given door. Ever
wonder why there is so much emphasis on loving and serving God with all our
heart, the seat of our intellect, emotions, and will? God wants us to be wholly
in love with Him serving Him wholly. No half-hearted, cold-hearted business will do. The
timing of the heart needs to be from a pure motive: intellectually,
emotionally, and volitionally. This is why it is so vital for each of us to “Be
careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts” (Prov 4:23. GNB).
“Let your light so shine before men, that
they may see your good works and glorify Your Father in heaven” (Mt 5:16). If
there are good works (e.g., Gal 5:22-23), then there are bad works. For brevity’s
sake, we will characterize all bad works as works of the flesh (Gal 5:19, 20,
21) that believers can be guilty of doing which are temporal in nature, unlike
good works, and described as wood, hay, and stubble, combustible material under
the scrutiny of judgment.
I was reminded by this rare experience
that wrong timing can knock us out of a blessing now and in the hereafter! Whether
we go through the door of praying, worshiping, praising, giving, singing, serving,
or whatever door we enter for Christ, our heart must be pure, a heart after God’s
own heart, or else we will be at the right place at the wrong time missing out
on the blessings that could have been ours.
The Judgment Seat of Christ will
invariably bring all of this out into the open (1 Cor 3:13). Every believer
will be judged (2 Cor 5:10) for his or her works of whatever type it is: temporal or eternal in
nature; works of the flesh or of faith; wood, hay, and stubble; or gold, silver,
and precious stones? There will be loss and reward based on how our works fare in the fire. The Bema has
absolutely nothing to do with deciding our eternal destiny only the destiny of our
works in service to the King of Kings. Timing is everything whenever you and I step through the door of a Bible-believing, Christ-honoring church. If the timing of our hearts is off, we will
most definitely lose blessings for being at the right place at the wrong time. Keep your
heart healthy and be blessed, my friend. <><
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