My Monday Morning Cup | What is Good, Acceptable, and Perfect

Today is May 3, 2021. One-third of the year is done. How is your year going?

Since dedicating my life to Christ in 2007, the Lord continues to grow my heart for the poor, marginalized, and disenfranchised.

My spiritual writing is also a means of expression that the Lord keeps blessing and nurturing. I am grateful to use this gift to share glimpses of the ministry work I am honored to do alongside so many other talented people who share the love of Christ in common.

During our street outreach this past weekend, we met a group of men who had formed a small neighborhood under a bridge. The Lord granted me the opportunity to pray with one of the men, “Joseph.” Since his divorce ten years ago, “Joseph” has spent most of his life on the streets. He claims to be living under the bridge for the last three years. He is forthcoming about his struggle with addiction, a battle I am all too familiar with from my own firsthand experiences. “You can buy me house, give me a job, and do whatever and I’ll wind up back here,” he sobs. He is four years older than me, nearing 60. “My addiction catches up to me every time.”

When I ask him if we can pray for him, Joseph scoots forward on his makeshift bed, anxious to be prayed over. He needs a touch from the Lord. Joseph needs to know he is loved, despite his current situation. Joseph needs hope.

I have explored church history, systematic theology, and hermeneutics in depth and studied management and leadership ad nausea. My daily spiritual ritual includes spending time in the Word and in prayer. I know and love people, although admittedly I don’t always like them. Life is harsh and people can be cruel.

I don’t know what it will take for Joseph to put down his bottles of booze, pills, and other mood altering substances. I do know what it took for me. I can only continue praying that the Lord will show him the way the same way He showed me.

This week as you go about living your life, pray for Joseph. Pray for me too because by the grace of God there go I.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

‭Romans‬ ‭12:2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

I spent the latter part of Sunday outside on our patio priming my new vertical smoker, listening to a blend of Memphis music, a dash of Robert Palmer and a bit of The Squeeze sprinkled in, contemplating how fortunate I am that the Lord redeemed me and rescued me from addiction. It’s surely not something I did on my own. It is only something God could do. As I think about my conversations with the homeless men and women I encountered this last week, I pray for Joseph. Hopefully, he will take it a day at a time, or if that’s not working, ten minutes at a time.

I pray your week is filled with God’s blessings and that His favor will shine on you. Can you believe it’s May already?

The Devotional Guy™

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