What does it mean to be interruptible?
To ponder this question as a believer is vital to living like Jesus.
In Jesus, we see demonstrated a person that was not bothered in being bothered by people He didn’t even know.
Thinking about this topic and going back and reading some of our favourite stories of Jesus, puts things into a little different perspective.
Like that one time in the middle of preaching to a crowd in a building and all of a sudden, the ceiling gets ripped open and a paralysed man gets lowered right in front of Jesus.
Think about that one for a minute
You’re teaching profound truths to a crowd and amongst them, you have intently listening Pharisees and teachers of the law, all who are judging every word you say and every move you make, and boom! You’re interrupted by a man coming down the roof… a little odd, isn’t it? But that’s pretty much what happened.
Now, imagine if this were to happen to some of us, would we be so patient? so gracious? Would we be interruptible?
Maybe some of us would, or maybe we’d be so focused on our activity that we’d be incapable of seeing an opportunity to manifest love, even if it was coming down from a roof right in front of our eyes.
”Sometimes the attention we give to our ”doing” is what robs us from the opportunity of ”being”.
It doesn’t take much for us to realise how a little inconvenience can really bother. It doesn’t matter if we’re doing something super important or simply having a conversation and suddenly someone cuts you off. Let’s be honest, no one likes to be interrupted.
Looking back we can see that being too focused on what we want to do can blind us in the day to day of what God may be wanting us to step out in.
If I’m in the car park and I see someone struggling to start their car, or load their groceries, am I willing to go and help? If we’re honest, we sometimes look at those situations as an inconvenience, but Jesus would look at them as an opportunity. Being interrupted isn’t an inconvenience but it’s an opportunity to demonstrate God’s goodness.
Jesus when interrupted while teaching brings healing and forgiveness to a man who desperately needs it. There is no such thing as an inconvenience to Him because the Lord is in the business of people being loved and cared for, not in the business of “getting stuff done”.
People are the priority of Jesus, not tasks.
Is that our disposition? Is that mine?
Thinking this through in our lives is very important if we want to be people who look like Jesus.
One other thing that I find helpful to do in this process is to ask: ”Why do I get frustrated when I’m interrupted?” The only reason someone gets frustrated when they get interrupted is that they’ve made a decision that what they are doing is more important than anything else. I know that sounds harsh but it’s the reality. We prioritise what we’re doing above other things, which isn’t inherently bad, but is that the mentality that we should have all the time?
As YWAM Adelaide, we want to encourage you to consider your day to day, to stop for a moment and look around you, what is happening? What is God doing? What is He saying? and when He speaks, will you stop? will you listen?
Let’s be people who are willing to be interrupted
….no matter what we’re doing, whether we are doing a YWAM DTS, going to college or just at work, may we no longer feel bothered by being bothered because this whole thing is no longer an inconvenience but an opportunity.
Our highest calling is to love God and love people, so let’s keep that our priority!
Be interruptible.
Check in the video below how being flexible with his schedule allowed our staff Matthew to bless a stranger.