I love nothing more than being a blessing. Anytime God uses me as a carrier for one of His blessings, I find a satisfaction that runs deep and a joy that spreads wide.
I pray every day that God will use my life to bless others. A true follower of Jesus should make a difference every time they walk into a room.
My wife makes a difference whenever she goes shopping. I don’t remember a time she hasn’t engaged with a checkout clerk, asking them about their day and leaving them with a kind word. She believes God has called her to bless checkout lines 1, 2, 3 and any others that are open with no waiting.
A few days ago, God answered my prayers to use me to make a difference in others’ lives. When I get off work, I have made it my habit to go the gym.
I have been doing this for a number of years, although I know you can’t tell it by looking at me. The one good thing about my gym is that they give you a Tootsie Roll just for coming in, which makes it worth the trip.
On this particular day, as I entered the gym, smiles spread across the room. “God is so good,” I thought. “I haven’t said a word, and already, He is my life to bring joy and peace to this place.”
This thought caused a huge smile to spread across my face. The more I smiled, the more the people at the gym smiled, and that brought an even bigger smile to my face. It was one happy gym!
Everywhere I went, the joy of the Lord exuded from me. I know the Bible says, “Rejoice always,” but my face was hurting from the smiles that were beaming from my face.
My workout routine always begins with a run on the treadmill. You don’t know how long a minute is until you have been on a treadmill that is going a little faster than your feet can carry you.
But with all the smiling going on, my feet had never felt so light as they did that day, and I ran faster and faster. I could have run until Jesus came back, the joy of the Lord supporting me.
As I ran, I thanked Jesus for making a difference in my life, so that those around could see and feel His presence. The Lord and I were having church right there in that gym.
Just then, I reached down to my pockets to pull out some headphone. As my fingers fumbled, I realized something was not quite right.
I glanced down, and horror of all horrors, I saw why everyone was smiling. And it had nothing to do with the joy of the Lord.
I had been walking around the gym with my sweatpants turned inside out. The fuzzy inside was now the outside, and my pockets hung down, flopping around like rabbit ears as I ran.
Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, it dawned on me: Not only were my pants inside out, but I had them on backwards, too!
As I looked up from my painful discovery, I saw the entire gym full of people, all smiling at me. All I could do was give a sheepish grin and remind myself of Rom. 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
I can’t imagine how many people went home that night and sat around the dinner table, telling their family about the crazy man who showed up at the gym. But I can’t be too upset. That very morning, I had asked God to help me bring a smile to someone’s face and to be a blessing to other people. I guess this was part of the “all things” God is working in our lives for His kingdom, His glory and our good.
Have you asked God to use you as a carrier for one of His blessings? He might use you to speak a word of encouragement. He might ask you to give of your time to help someone in need. He might have you bless another with your resources.
God has thousands of blessings He wants to impart, and He longs to use you as His messenger—even if your sweatpants are inside out and backwards. Count it all joy that He has entrusted you, and go be a blessing to someone today.
