React or Respond?

 June 13, 2022

People have told me on numerous occasions how impressed they are with how our son Nathan is dealing with his cancer diagnosis. His positive attitude, his determination to make every moment count, and his witness to Jesus Christ is not what most people expect from such a medical report, perhaps because most of us would react differently. Three facts are important here.

First, there is a world of difference between reacting and responding to circumstances. Think of the difference between reacting and responding to medication. You want your body to respond to medication, not to react to it. The same is true of life. Often, we react to circumstances when we should be responding to them, particularly when those circumstances are not to our liking. As Christians, we react when we are living in the flesh; we only respond through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Second, we can only response to circumstances when we have prepared for them before they come. The spiritual disciplines of prayer, Bible reading, worship, generosity, witness, and gratitude cannot be conjured up at the last minute. As I’ve often said, you can’t obtain by trying what requires training to accomplish. My grandson has been weight training, and recently deadlifted 300 lbs. I could try, but trying wouldn’t cut it. The same is true of spiritual tests. Only by doing the work in the gym of spiritual disciplines will we be able to do the heavy lifting when trouble comes.

Last, Nate is no superhero. He is an ordinary man, a human being just like you and me. In tonight’s Bible study, we read John 16. :14—“He (the Holy Spirit) will glorify Me…” How does the Holy Spirit glorify Jesus? John has already told us: “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”

—John 15:26-27 

Did you catch it? “You also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. The only way the Holy Spirit can glorify Jesus is through ordinary people who respond to circumstances in extraordinary ways. That only happens when we’ve been with Jesus. God’s intent is that every single one of us would glorify Jesus in decidedly un glorious situations. What people have been saying is unusual should be the norm for us all. Extraordinary responses (not reactions) to extraordinary situations can bring extraordinary glory to our Lord Jesus Christ.