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PROGRAM D-7856
It’s time to catch up with our fictional story of Fran and Jesus on the Job. Fran is a workplace woman who has two young children; she has gone back to her career since her husband was tragically killed a few years ago. The purpose of this story is to help us see how critical it is for us as believers to practice the presence of Jesus in our everyday lives. We have the Spirit of Jesus within us, but sometimes we live as though Jesus stays at home when we go to work. This episode will help us get hold of a basic Bible principle and remember that Jesus is with us always!
Fran is just finishing a conversation with one of her clients. “Yes, Marge, I will do my very best to have that ready by tomorrow. Uh-huh, yes. I understand. Okay, Marge, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
Fran hangs up the phone and begins talking to herself, forgetting for a moment that Jesus, of course, hears everything she says or thinks. “I don’t believe that woman. She is going to drive me nuts! Nothing we do is good enough for her. She makes last minute changes and then expects me to work miracles. Furthermore, she is so rude. I really can’t stand her!”
Quietly she can sense the Spirit of God whispering to her: Did you ever think that I love her as much as I love you?
The thought startles her. “Well yeah, sure, I knew that,” she thinks out loud. “You love everybody, Lord. But she’s a really nasty, demanding person. I’m sorry; I just don’t like her.”
As these thoughts continue, her mind goes back to a recent sermon she heard in which her pastor said that there were people Jesus didn’t like, but he loved everybody. He had said that you don’t have to like everybody, but our commandment is to show God’s love to everybody.
“I thought you have to like someone, then you can love them,” Fran says to herself, “but I guess that’s not the way it is with God. The problem is, I just don’t know how to do it. There’s just no way I can love Marge. She’s obnoxious!”
Do you want to love her? again that quiet inner voice catches her up short.
“Do I really want to love her? To tell you the truth–not really,” Fran admits. “I guess that’s really where my problem lies, isn’t it Lord? But how can I even want to love someone like her?” Fran exclaims.
As she sits and thinks about that, the answer becomes clear: “I can want to love her simply because you want me to, Jesus. I can do it for you. I can’t do it for Marge, but I can do it for you.”
“Now,” she says to herself, “the next step is to start praying for Marge every day. That’s what I have to do now.”
Do you have somebody in your life who drives you crazy? You can learn how to love even unlikable people.