What happens when you listen to Jesus?

Wow! This is a question that we just don't ask often enough. We don't ask it enough because we rarely listen enough. If you told me that when I listened to Jesus everything would work out according to His plan I'd say, "Duh!" Being a follower it's an obvious thing to me that by listening to Him, I do His will. By ignoring Him, I do my will, which is selfish, flawed, and gives selfish, flawed results.

Part of the problem is that He asks us to do things that are difficult. We are asked to put other's needs first, sacrifice our pride, perhaps even demean ourselves to our perceived enemies, or at least people we don't particularly like. It isn't easy, it isn't how we have been taught by our society as a whole. Sure, we do it when we give to charity, the food bank, the collection plate at church. We sacrifice ourselves for our jobs, saying that it's for a better life for our families when we are actually sacrificing our families for our jobs. But that's not what this is about. This is about doing what Jesus tells us to do, even when we REALLY don't want to.

It could be any one of a number of things, giving a food ticket from a shelter to a homeless person. Most of us want to ignore the homeless in our communities. Now is definitely not the time to ignore them, temperatures are dropping, rain is falling, and soon it will be snow. But again, this is not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about forgiveness here. Not granting it, asking for it. That's hard! You put yourself out there, you admit to someone that you were wr..wroooo....wrooonnnnggg! I don't know what it is you did. Maybe you lied to someone, maybe you stole something, maybe you pushed someone's buttons and made them yell at you so you would feel self-rightious and better then them. That's what I did, if you read yesterday's post you have that whole story. Not saying I haven't done all of those other things, too, and much worse. But we're dealing with the one at hand. If you haven't read yesterday's post I suggest you stop here and take a look at it, this will make more sense then.

It was REALLY HARD! It was in the back of my mind all the way to work. Then I saw him at work and he just didn't look happy. So I got to work, pulling orders and building hoses. Acting like nothing was wrong, like nothing was weighing on my heart. For over 2 hours I went on like this, until finally, the moment, and the courage, and the Holy Spirit said "Speak".

An amazing thing happened, I apologized to him, told him I was out of line and I could have chosen a much better way to handle the situation. He apologized back to me! He said that when he blew up it wasn't about that and some other things are happening. He even smiled. I felt this amazing weight lifted off my heart.

I'm not saying that we'll be friends or anything like that. But we found a middle ground of peace, and I owe it all to God. I listened to Him in His perfect timing and grace. I did what He told me to do, when He told me to do it, and things worked out perfectly.

So, what happens when you listen to Jesus? He tells you to do hard things. Things you wouldn't normally do on your own. He puts you into confrontational situations that you would far rather ignore or avoid. And if you continue to listen to Him, He rewards you with a peace, joy, and love that you have no chance of achieving on your own. He will bring you to new heights of accomplishment that have little or nothing to do with "normal" success. He will give you true happiness.

On this note, I'm going to go to bed, and sleep a peaceful sleep.