I don’t know what else to call it but the “Stimulated Awareness” phenomenon.
This happens when you start thinking about getting a different car or truck, a specific model and even a specific color – and all of a sudden, you start spotting them all over town! Before your awareness was stimulated, you never noticed them; now they’re everywhere. Or, you want to change your hairstyle to something specific. Soon, you notice many people with the same style. Or, you get clued into what a house finch looks like in Central Oregon; then, all of a sudden, house finches are all over the neighborhood. None of these items actually increased in number; we just became aware of them because of the “Stimulated Awareness” phenomenon.
As we study the life of our Lord Jesus, we observe four components that marked His ministry, making His meetings with people really matter, components that made His encounters count for eternity. In either large or small measure, Jesus’ conversations and activities with others, had:
Consecration – a time when He set Himself apart to be used however the Father wanted. (Mark 1:9-13, 35)
Compassion – seeing beyond Himself to the needs of others, bringing elements of the Kingdom of God to others. (Mark 1:41)
Clarification – shedding light on a confusion or misunderstanding about God, the Bible, or life. (Mark 2:16-17)
Communication – speaking life, communicating in some way the Good News. (Mark 1:15)
Our everyday encounters with people can really count for God if we recognize that people may need from us elements stemming from one of these four stages. Maybe we need to be consecrated to God – “Lord, I yield myself to You to do or to be whatever You want for this person.” Maybe the person needs compassion, to see elements of the Kingdom of God – His kindness, His love, His power, His joy, the beauty of holiness. Maybe the person we are with has a false assumption about God that either our lives or our lips can clarify. Or maybe they need to hear about Jesus and His grace in forgiving our sins through His death and resurrection. Thus, we communicate it.
With “Stimulated Awareness” of how God can use us in any of these four stages, our encounters, like Jesus, can count for eternity. We’ll see God at work all over town!
