The Scent of Humanness — Ami Loper

Am I Trying to do the Work of the Holy Spirit?

One morning as I stared out my kitchen window, something caught my eye. A group of birds were all in one area of the yard acting very strangely. As I looked closer, I could see in the middle of the crowd of birds, a baby bird. At first I wondered if they were attacking it, but I soon realized that the poor baby bird had fallen out of the tree overhead and the birds were surrounding it to protect it. My heart went out to the adult birds who, without hands, were hopeless to return the baby to the nest.

The thought flashed to me that I could gently lift the bird back to its safe home. But as soon as I had had the thought, I realized it was folly. The adult birds would see me as a predator instead of a savior and peck me mercilessly! Even if I was successful, the adults would reject the baby bird that now smelled to them more of human than of bird.

It is embarrassing to confess this now, but there have been times in my past when I thought that I was the chosen instrument of change in someone’s life. Ah, yes, if they could but listen to what I knew they needed to fix or change, all would be right and they would gratefully acknowledge my sagacity. I could fix them. I could make them a list and they could fix all that was wrong with them! (Of course, this is an exaggeration, but it is still embarrassing.)

As shocking as it was for me to realize, Jesus never did this, even with His disciples. He teaches; He corrects; He even rebukes, but He never told them everything that was wrong about them. He never gave them a “What You Could Improve On” list – and couldn’t you just imagine the length of the one He could’ve made for some of them?

Why didn’t He say to Peter, “Look, Buddy. You’ve got to get over yourself. You think you can rebuke everybody, even Me! You say the stupidest things without even thinking! Do you realize how ridiculous you sound? You have a real issue with pride and not thinking before you speak. You’re all talk and no follow through. You better work on these things so that I can use you.”

Nope, it never happened. Yet, in the Lord’s own perfect timing, Peter learns what he needs to learn and in the way he needs to learn it.

Of course, as parents we are called to teach and train the children in our home continually. It is our duty to be mirrors to them showing them what is lacking. But even in this relationship in which we’ve been given authority, we don’t bombard our kids with everything at once and we always approach them in love and in humility. And we certainly don’t presume that authority with others around us.

Unless there is a God-given moment, a clear directive from God, anything that I attempt to do of my own power in the life of another is going to have the smell of humanness on it and it will be rejected. Even when I have the best of intentions, I must restrain my desire to fix and just love as Jesus loves.

Casting our pearls and getting trampled is going to be our lot in life as long as we are presumptuous enough to believe we are the Holy Spirit in flesh sent to educate those around us as to the ills of their own behaviors.

Naturally, there are times we need to speak up, but I’m afraid they are a whole less frequent than some of us were hoping. The Holy Spirit must be our Guide, Jesus must be our Example, the log must be out of our own eye and Love must be our motivation and our method. The fragrance that wafts behind where we walk ought to the fragrance of the Creator, not this decaying creation.

“If I … can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge…, but have not love, I am nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:2

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