People Over ProgramSample

always to beBOTHERABLE

Christian theologians like to say that Jesus came into the world in the fullness of time. Confluences of factors in Second Temple Israel and the Roman Empire are setting up the perfect situation for the propagation of the gospel. Everything was lining up nicely, and everyone was ready for the coming of the Messiah.

Except Jesus pulled an audible at the last minute. Jesus' relatives were about to become the bottom of the joke in Cana because they had not prepared enough wine for their wedding party. So Jesus decided to perform his first miracle there. He turned water into wine even though he knew it was not the scheduled time for his signs and wonders.

Jesus moved up the launch of his earthly ministry for two reasons. First, because his mother asked him. Second, he did not want his relatives to be embarrassed on this momentous occasion of their lives.

Jesus put the requests and needs of the people around him above his divine eternal timeline. People were so important to Jesus that he did not think twice about allowing them to rearrange his plans.

In God's Kingdom, we are in the people business. Each plan, program, budget, method, and technique in our churches must be designed to help people love God and one another.

And this applies to our personal lives as well. We must be ready to take care of people in our lives even when it is inconvenient. Because people would ask for your help when it's convenient for them, not the other way around. That is why we must always be ready to help and adjust.

We have a word in our church for this: botherable. We ask everyone in our church to always be ready for people to bother them. In the middle of the night, when we are busy at work, as we are preparing dinner in the kitchen, anytime someone needs our help, we must be ready to be bothered.

Our Lord Jesus allowed himself to be bothered as he was about to inaugurate his redemption plan for the world. Therefore, we must be botherable in our lives as well. Jesus always put people over his programs. He is always ready for us to bother him. And as his people, we must be like him. We must be botherable as well.