I think that you can tell a lot about a person based on how they respond when you frighten them. For the first 20 years of my life anytime someone would pop out from behind a door, or make a sudden loud noise, or intentionally plan to frighten me as part of a prank, I would always respond by yelling and jumping back. For this reason people used to love to sneak up on me and scare me.

Then one day, when I was in college, I was at a gas station filling my car up with fuel. All of a sudden, seemingly out of nowhere, a man jumped out from behind the gas pump and screamed at me. But for some reason this time I didn’t yell or jump...I put up my fists and began throwing punches. The man turned out to be one of my best friends from school, trying to scare me.

I don’t recall how many punches I landed before I realized that this was a prank. But I do recall thinking to myself “Whoa, that was a totally new response to being frightened.” For some reason I had moved from “flight” to “fight” in my response to fear. I attribute it mostly to becoming more self-confident as I grew into my manhood as well as receiving some healing from areas of fear in my life. In any event, the internal state of my heart had changed over time, and with that my response to external stimuli changed as well.

Now that I am married and have kids I notice that not everyone in our family responds the same way to each situation. For instance, when the ice cream truck drives by my son responds with joy and hope as he requests a “special treat”. My wife responds with parental instincts and rationalizes with my son about whether he needs another treat. I respond with confusion as I don’t know whether to agree with my son or my wife.

And perhaps as a pastor I see it most frequently as people respond differently to spiritual stimuli. On any given Sunday I can get the following responses:

“Great sermon, it was life-changing!”
“I’m confused. I had a hard time following your train of thought. You seemed to wander a lot.”
“You tell too many jokes.”
“Loosen up, try telling a joke.”
“I’m just not growing at this church, so I’m leaving.”
“I’m so glad that I found this church! I’m growing so much!”

The bottom line is, whether we’re responding to being frightened, the ice cream truck, or a sermon at church, our response says more about us than it does about the stimuli. Our response reveals the status of our heart and mind at that moment.

I wonder sometimes, how Jesus internalized the variety of responses that he got. Some people loved Him, some people hated Him. Some wanted to crown Him and others wanted to crucify Him. And depending on the moment the same people that wanted to crown Him later wanted to crucify Him. Jesus didn’t change but people’s responses to Him varied. Did Jesus ever ask “Are you guys all hearing and seeing the same thing?”

One of the stories that illustrates this point well is the story of Jesus healing ten men with Leprosy in Luke 17. The ten men appear to be waiting for Jesus in anticipation of being healed. Jesus gives them instructions to show themselves to the priest. Upon being healed one man returns to thank Jesus. Only one man. Here is Jesus’ response: “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they?” I can relate to Jesus’ frustration.

Jesus was well aware that not everyone responded to His ministry the same way. Many times the response depended on what He asked:

“Come and eat!” - 5,000 men respond. (Matt. 14)
“Come and pray!” - About 120 disciples respond. (Acts 1)
“Come and watch me die!” - Less than 6 loved ones respond.

Ultimately, the way that we respond to God says a lot about us. And all it takes is one person responding to God well to create a prophetic picture to everyone else of how we could respond, if we chose to. The other nine lepers are only remembered as ungrateful because of the one that responded with gratitude.

Our response to God reveals our heart. When we respond poorly it reveals that our heart is set on other things. When we respond well it reveals that our heart in in alignment with Heaven’s priorities. Our responses can change from day to day depending on our connection with Jesus, mood, schedule and other factors.

Often, however, the way that we will respond to God is decided well before we ever have the opportunity to respond. As we align our hearts with His we prepare ourselves to respond well. As we come out of alignment we prepare to respond poorly.

You never know when God is going to show up and you never know what He is going to ask. The discipline of guarding your heart will prepare you to respond well when he makes His appearance and request.