On one of the episodes of a popular tv show, a man became angry at his girlfriend because she overstepped her bounds (in his opinion) even though she was trying to be helpful. When he reacted negatively to her efforts, she was surprised and disappointed. Later when she discussed it with her girlfriends, they explained that she was not giving her man the space he needed. In our singleness journeys, we all have good intentions. But sometimes, what we meant for good is really harmful. In our zeal to help and heal, we often go with our instincts about what needs to be done and we rush forward with our plan. Then we are shocked and angry when the person we are trying to help rejects our seemingly noble efforts.
Sad to say, but sometimes it is not enough to INTEND to do good when our actions create more problems than it solves. In cases like this, we are breaking something that wasn’t fixed.
One of the hardest things to get people to understand, single Christians included, is the tendency we all have to do what we think is right instead of what God knows is right. We often assume that our thoughts are in line with God’s intentions and thus, we rush forward with our blueprint for how to solve the problems that people are struggling with.
The challenge is for us to step outside of our self-interests, egos and narrow perspectives and wait on a word from the Lord. Yes, God can move more slowly than we would prefer, but He has a great sense of timing. So when someone comes to you with a broken heart or with dreams that have been dashed or feeling depressed because they lost their job or upset because a friend turned out to be a “hater”; stop and take a breath. Don’t do what you want to do. Listen for what God wants you to do. If we are honest with ourselves, we will be surprised to find out that our wants and God’s wants are two different things.
The last thing people in our lives that we care for need is for us to break something that is not fixed.
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