The Good Interruption
By
Lexi Ellis
“Come,
follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once,
they left their nets and followed him.
Matthew
4:19-20 (NLT)
I was always taught
interrupting was bad. Being one of three sisters, we had to wait our turn to
speak. My parents wisely adopted a system for when we wanted to interrupt a
conversation they were having with another adult. We would put our hand on
theirs and once there was an appropriate break in conversation, they said,
“excuse me,” and talked to us. As we got older, they taught us how to politely
wait for a good moment to enter the conversation.
Recently, God
interrupted my normal routine. I had a plan, a system…and then God revealed
something. It’s funny, I responded to God the same way my parents did when we
interrupted them. It seemed rude, inconvenient and surprising. I desperately
wanted to smile at God and say, “You need to wait.”
And yet, as I looked at
Scripture, I began to realize that God interrupts our normal routine with an
invitation to actively follow Him. And this is about the only good interruption
I’ve ever seen. This invitation to enter an active relationship with Christ - -
this invitation to come and follow - - often interrupts our normal routine and
the plans we make for ourselves. God called Moses in the midst of shepherding.
God called Esther for “such a time as this” in the midst of comfort and luxury
in being queen. God called Samuel while he was sleeping. Christ called His
disciples in the midst of their vocation. The angel called Mary in the midst of
her engagement for a socially-daring and divinely determined task.
Throughout Scripture,
we see God’s invitation to come and follow in the midst of our normal routine.
It’s quite the interruption. And yet, it’s good. Because when we surrender,
when we stop controlling and instead follow Him, we allow God to use our
situations and our circumstances to not only shape us, but point others to Him.
His Spirit begins a new work in our lives. When we allow God to interrupt our
normal routine, we grow in Christ and as disciplemakers.
I’ve been a Christian
for years and yet I still struggled to recognize that God’s recent interruption
in my normal routine - - my way of doing things - - was good. If we have a
relationship with God, then we trust He has a plan, one that includes
interruptions of what we want. I’m thankful for the reminder that these
interruptions are good. In fact, they’re invitations to come, follow Him and
point others to my Savior.
GOING DEEPER:
1. Looking back,
how have you typically responded to God’s good interruptions?
2. How is God
interrupting your normal routine now?
FURTHER READING:
Lexi
is married to Andrew and has a puppy named Calvin. She serves with Oakwood’s
Children’s Ministries, teaches sixth grade at Silver Lake Intermediate School
and is the Fresh Start Coordinator.
