The more I age the more I am aware of the need for presence. God’s presence in my life, certainly. But that is not the presence of which I speak. I mean more and more it is my desire to live a life of presence. To truly be where my body is at any given time.
It is only in this kind of living that we can be ready for, what I call, moments.
If you have read many of my posts you know my belief in the importance of definitions. So let me define what I mean by those times in life I call “moments”. Moments are powerful point-in-time encounters that lead to lasting impact.
Moments can be intentional or unintentional, that is, planned or unplanned.
In John 21, when the Master cooks breakfast and is waiting on Peter to restore him from his tragic denial (“Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?”), it is a planned moment.
When you invite a friend you know is hurting out for coffee, it is a planned moment.
But I want to talk to you about the unplanned moments. The kind of moments that require us to be present in our life. Mindful. Because, if we are not, we will miss them.
Such moments are often, if not always, God-sent and provide a great opportunity for something transcendent to occur. Allow me to give you a biblical (Mark 5:25-34) example of an unplanned moment:
Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”
Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?”
But His disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ”
And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”
I want to make a few observations from this passage that teach us a great deal about unplanned moments.
When They Occur – Moments happen in the busyness of life. They happen as we are going about our day.
In the context of the above passage, a synagogue leader named Jairus has come to Jesus in desperation to heal his sick daughter who is “at the point of death,” he tells Jesus. Hearing this, a great throng of people gather about to follow Jesus and Jairus to his house. Walking the crowded street to Jarius’ house is when our story above takes place.
What They Require From Us – Moments require presence. We have to be in our life... have to be where we are.
Jesus illustrates this so beautifully. He stops dead in his tracks in that narrow street packed with people, and says, “who touched me”?
The disciples were incredulous. Who touched you? Master, we are packed in here like sardines and you want to know who touched you?
The Lord was sensitive to what had taken place because He was living in presence. He knew the difference between the bumping of busyness and the intentional touch. He was, in the best sense of the word, sensitive.
Jesus was aware.
Potential moments are often ever so subtle, so nuanced. We have stories in Scripture of people running to Jesus, clutching at Him, even shouting to Him for help. All we have here is a gentle, discreet touch. And yet the Lord knew it instantly.
If we are to be open to a potential moment we must be present because they often present discreetly. Nuanced. We must be, well, in the moment.
What They Involve – Unintentional moments have within them a need of some kind. In this case, we are talking about a poor woman who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years. She had spent her last dollar on cures and had found no help. In fact, the text tells us she was getting worse.
As a boy I heard a minister say something in a sermon I have never forgotten. He said, “Let me tell you what a Christian is. A Christian is a needs meet-er.” Of course he wasn’t implying that good deeds will save you. His point that as Christians we should be about helping. About meeting needs.
Read the Gospels and you will instantly see that Jesus was a needs meet-er.
What Enables Them – In a word, power. What stops the Master in His tracks in our text is that He “realized that power had gone out of Him.”
This is but one of the many reasons we are implored in Scripture to live in the power of the Holy Spirit. Apart from His power we can do nothing mighty to those in need.
Moments – lasting moments, moments that count for time and eternity – happen when we meet the need of someone in the power of the Holy Spirit. When we are God’s vessel to that person.
Like His clothing this woman touched, you and I are an indirect contact that leads to Jesus.
This means that we must tend to our interior life. We have to be people of the Word, people of time alone with God, people of prayer.
These were the practices of Jesus. How often we are told in Scripture that He went off alone and prayed or that He rose a great while before dawn and prayed. Even in His darkest hour He asks Peter, James, and John to wait while He goes ahead alone to pray.
The great artist Vincent van Gogh speaks of moments... and our need to be ready for them. He writes:
There may be a great fire in our soul, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passersby only see a wisp of smoke coming through the chimney, and go along their way. Look here, now what must be done? Must one tend the inner fire, have salt in oneself, wait patiently yet with how much impatience for the hour when somebody will come and sit down—maybe to stay? Let him who believes in God wait for the hour that will come sooner or later.[1]
Tending the inner fire, having salt in ourselves... as van Gogh says, these are the ways in which the Holy Spirit empowers us as vessels for change in others. This is what readiness for the moment requires of us.
What They Lead To – When we become God’s agent in the moment for someone in need, the result is transformation. Sometimes the transformation is dramatic, as in our story here. Or when we are used by God to lead someone to Christ. That is as dramatic as it gets.
But very often this is not the case. When we “give a cup of cold water” as it were, to one in need... that too is transformative. As is a word of care to the broken hearted. Or a word of hope to one in despair. Or time spent with someone who is oh so lonely.
In physics, a moment is a turning effect produced by a force acting on an object. When we are aware of the presence of a moment, we become that gentle force which God uses to turn another person for their good and benefit.
A Moment Missed
When I write our Christians Who Thrive pieces, most of my posts are born out of my own needs and often my own failures. Basically, I write to me and hope that they might help some of you. It was from a personal failure that today’s post was born. From that, the importance of moments was brought home to me in a way that I hope I will never forget.
Some years back I was asked to officiate at a funeral. The next day, at the graveside, I said a few brief words as is customary.
Several people were wanting to speak to me afterward, individually. A young man in his twenties shyly approached and extended his hand as he told me his name. Just after our greeting, someone else walked up and somehow the young man got lost in the shuffle. He stood aside for a few minutes and then was gone.
I have thought of that scene several times in the intervening years and every time I do I wince. And I feel sorrow in my heart. Real sorrow.
I missed the moment with him. That is why it stays with me. I know in my heart I missed a moment. What the young man’s need was I will likely never know. It is virtually certain I will never see him again as he was a friend of a friend of the deceased. And he was from another state.
Please learn from my failure. Strive to live in the present... be where your body is. Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Be ready. You never know when someone in need will “touch” you.
[1] Vincent van Gogh - The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh.
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