Faith

Incidental vs. Intentional

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Last Updated on December 9, 2019

At my church,&nbsp  the senior pastor has been talking “Myspace.” Not the social networking website, but our concept of how we interact with others, both Christian and non-Christian, in what we consider “our space” to be.

His main point is that God wants us to be intentional about living our lives as Christians. We can either live a deliberately-calculated life that centers on loving others the way God wants us to, or we can be moved by the random stream of life and just make our own lives merely “incidental.”

There is a big difference, Paul has said, between moving through life saying, “If God wants this to happen…” and “God wants me to make this happen.”

This past week, he talked about one of the biggest obstacles Christians encounter when it comes to reaching out to people: our perception of others. We decide, sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously, whether a person we encounter is the “right” kind of person to talk to or help. We judge whether someone is worthy of our friendship or love based on whether they are enough “like” us.

Sometimes, it’s about racism. Sometimes it’s about homophobia. Sometimes, it’s an age or gender thing. Maybe some of us get blocked once in a while by socio-economic hang-ups. Stereotypes. Anger. Bad experiences in our own pasts.

We walk into every potential relationship with another person with some set of ideas that may not have any real relation to the person we’re trying to pigeonhole into a category that they may not necessarily fit into.

It seems like a simple-enough concept, doesn’t it? Not quite simple enough, apparently, because I just blew it. Completely missed the point.

I went to the gym the other night, having decided that I need to restart the workout regimen I had begun in January of last year. On my way there, I stopped at a gas station to get a little fuel and to get a bottled water, which is cheaper at the gas station than at the gym. (I had forgotten to take a refilled bottle with me from home.)

As I was pumping gas, a rumpled-looking woman walked up to me. She was waiving two dollar bills in her hand.

“I’m trying to get to Summerville,” she began. Summerville is about twenty minutes away from where we were at that point. “Do you just have a dollar?”

“No, I sure don’t,” I responded. I really didn’t have a dollar bill. I almost never carry cash. Thanks to direct deposit and debit cards, I’m not certain I remember what most paper currency even looks like, although I suspect that I could still pick out an American bill from any other country’s.

I got my in my car and left for the gym. And while I was struggling through the elliptical crosstrainer, which I despise, it occurred to me: “What an idiot!” I could have walked into the store and asked the cashier to put $10 on the pump where the woman’s car was.

I guess we’re conditioned to believe that anyone who asks for money is out for something they don’t deserve. She must have wanted that dollar for something other than gas. A third dollar wouldn’t have bought enough gasoline to get her to Summerville, anyway. So it had to be something else.

At least, that’s what some part of my mind must have decided because it didn’t even occur to me until later that there had been that second option.

I did go back to that gas station, for what it’s worth, but she wasn’t there. I hope she got her dollar. And I hope she made it to Summerville safely. I wish it would have occurred to me how I could help make that happen.

the authorPatrick
Patrick is a Christian with more than 30 years experience in professional writing, producing and marketing. His professional background also includes social media, reporting for broadcast television and the web, directing, videography and photography. He enjoys getting to know people over coffee and spending time with his dog.