Unwanted Advances

This past Saturday, I volunteered to help a co-worker and her husband to move. If you have ever moved, you know how time-consuming that can be. Having moved several times in my recent past, I kind of had an idea of what was in store. But as it turned out, I did not fully anticipate EVERYTHING that could happen.

In the midst of picking up boxes and loading the U-Haul, I kept encountering this person who kept making what appeared to be suggestive comments. At first, I just played things off because I suspected that I might be over-reacting. But over time, it became very clear that what I thought I was hearing was what I was hearing.

Why share this with you? You may be saying that people get approached everyday and most of those are from people the other person is not interested in. So, get over it Kevin and move on. Guess what, I wholeheartedly agree with you. Me being “hit on” is no big deal, but I do think there are some spiritual lessons we can learn from that.

First of all, God made us so we have to accept that we are one of His conscious creations. That is, He did not make us by mistake. We may be able to control our weight or hair style or to some extent, our health, but we are what we are. And what we are is a purposeful creation of the Grand Creator. So, why wouldn’t another person “hit on” us? If they use the good sense God gave them, they should be trying to get with me or you!! So, lesson one, people approaching us is just an affirmation of the good work God has done. The more we are able to recognize the great handiwork of God’s efforts when He made us, the more we can sincerely try to live up to His expectations of us. God made me so I am not going to succumb to the many distractions that may lead me outside of His will.

Second, when people make advances on others, they are just responding to the divinely instilled desire to interact with people. Out of all the people in the world they could approach, they chose me or you. (True, they may have approached every other person in the vicinity, but still, you were included in the number!) Lesson number two; the desires that God placed in us keeps us in the process of trying to unite with others. There have been times we have thrown up our hands and shouted, “Stop this train (of derailed relationships), I want to get off!!” But then, the next pretty face comes along and here we go hopping back on for another ride. Excuse my grammar but; that ain’t nothing but us affirming the divine statement found in Genesis - “It is not good that (the) man is alone.”

Even in the midst of unwanted advances, if we keep our spiritual eyes focused, we can see the work of God. So what if it is from someone we are not interested in? Maybe the next one will be. Nonetheless, there are lessons to be learned and opportunities for growth with each “Hey, Can I get your phone number?” I have listed two possible lessons, but there are many more. As single Christians, we should take proper advantage of every opportunity, unwanted advances included, to think and act more like God would desire.

Wondering how I dealt with my unwanted advance from Saturday? The answer is implied in the question. Oh, but there is something I forgot to mention. The person making the unwanted advance was a male! More about that tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s Post - A Child of God