Have you ever said hello to someone verbally or through a gesture and they didn’t respond as warmly as you envisioned or at all? Then for some odd reason, it bothered you.  Why?  It is probably because of the thoughts surrounding your unmet expectations.  No doubt those thoughts were negative.  What if you reframed your perspective to think that the touch you made was positive?  If you exhibit enough pleasant overtures, eventually you will elicit a favorable response.  Have faith in that touch.

In the 1950s, Nicky Cruz was the warlord or leader of his gang in New York City, the Mau Maus.  He enjoyed instilling fear and pain on rivals as a result of hate he developed from childhood abuse.  But a preacher named David Wilkerson happened into his life whose mission was to communicate simply that “Jesus loves you.”  So he began to make positive touches.  On several occasions David said to Nicky, “Jesus loves you,” but the leader resented him for it.  Nicky even threatened the preacher’s life but David responded, “If you cut me up into a thousand pieces each one would still say I love you.”  This stuck with Nicky.  Eventually, in a huge church rally that brought together the Mau Maus and their biggest rival, the Bishops, Nicky surrendered his life to Christ.  Today he has his own ministry that seeks to reach men and women for Christ.  David was convinced that every touch he made to Nicky was going to culminate in a positive response.  Nicky’s story is dramatized in the motion picture The Cross and the Switchblade.

What’s cool is that God makes positive touches on our lives daily (Lamentations 3:22-23).  We don’t see them that way because we tend to take them for granted.  Many go to sleep and don’t wake up because of unexplained ailments or an accident during the night.  Many are unemployed but you have a job.  Many have suffered loss of limbs but you have yours.  Many cannot see or hear, but you can.  Many are homeless but you have a roof over your head, even if it isn’t the one you want.  Many do not have the drive or ambition to accomplish their dreams but you do and are pursuing your goals.  I can go on and on but you get the picture.

Let me encourage you to not stop reaching out to someone else in a positive manner.  Your touch may be what he or she needs to brighten their day or simply warm their heart.  Have faith in that touch.

 

“Hi!”  I gesture or in word I greet

Only to hear crickets from the person I meet

I’m tempted, so tempted to resent the world

For ridding my touch as vigorous as a hurl

 

Yet I dare not lose faith in that one touch

For to just the right one it’ll mean so much

Though time may seem to yield no fruit

The planted seed will surely sprout post root