Lord, please use me today has got to be the most disruptive prayer ever answered.
Moments after my pious petition, inspired by this morning’s devotional reading, I heard my phone ring—from the last person on earth I wanted to talk to. Recently, this person had made me mad enough to spit nails. I grabbed the phone, but before I could say something I would have regretted, I heard: “I need help. My dog is hurt. He needs a vet, and I can’t take him now.”
My anger vanished. I interrupted with, “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
Time spent awaiting the vet’s diagnosis flew by as I meditated on the lesson of Jesus asking His disciples to serve the “least of these” and the “undeserving.” I was convicted: it wasn’t that the dog’s owner was undeserving because of our argument; instead, it was that God had called me when I was at my least deserving—clinging to bitterness—and He transformed my sin of anger into compassion.
That evening, I returned the dog, who had miraculously suffered only a sprain and not a broken bone. Leave it to God to ask an undeserving heart like mine to show His love where it’s needed most.
Sweet Jesus, thank You for forgiving me, even when I’m not quick to forgive. Thank You for using me, “the least of these,” to serve others with the best of You. Lord, I honestly ask You again: Please use me today.
—Erika Bentsen
