Inefficient Windows

Typically, as I do my work for the week on sermon prep or event meetings and all the hundred other facets of ministry, I have the pleasure of sitting next to and looking out a gigantic storefront window. The beauty of this is actually how distracting it can be. They certainly aren’t efficient, in fact, they are basically ineffective at keeping the cold air outside. But that isn’t the distraction. I’m distracted because I see hundreds of people walk by on a daily basis. We should do everything in our power to not be distracted so we can more effectively and efficiently do the work our ministry requires, right? Maybe. But, I have the opportunity of letting these distractions remind me of what ministry is all about. People! Those very people that walk by my window and distract me every day. They aren’t a distraction actually, they are the focus.
 
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:14, as he so eloquently styles these words of reconciliation, “Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him Who died for them and was raised again.” As those words dance in my heart on their own, they begin to burst out of my heart with the words that follow, “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.”
 
The old man that hobbles past, the heavy-set woman that smokes every time I see her, the businesswoman, the young teen, the black family, the Hispanic man, the homeless man who I know shoots meth, Paul declares for me, I no longer look at any of these beautiful people from a worldly point of view. I look at them as a soul waiting for the same redemption I’ve been given.

As I am convinced that the One died for all, Christ’s love compels me to no longer live for myself but for them and His glory.
 
I have to chuckle a little on these cold days, because it is especially chilly sitting by these windows. But I have never been more thankful for cold toes and the gentle reminder that every time I look up from my computer distracted by another person walking down the street or getting into their car each day, Christ died for them.
 
Lord, compel my life to be a living sacrifice. Thank you for these daily distractions that actually focus my life on You for them. Thank you Jesus for these cold inefficient windows.
 
Chris Heydenburg