Month: February 2019

“Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.” Ephesians 6:7, 8

            What is the work you have to do today? Are you looking forward to it? Is it drudgery? Do you enjoy it, or do you do what needs to be done, looking forward to when the work is done? I think all of us have times when we enjoy what we do, or at least parts of it. And we also have times when we wish we didn’t have to spend our hours and our days doing what we do. It doesn’t matter if you work for an employer or if your work is in the home. This applies in all situations. These verses help me because they shed a different light on the work I do. What is it you must do that you really don’t enjoy? For me, it’s doing the dishes. I don’t know why I dislike that chore, but I do. I wonder how that would change if I remembered that I’m washing God’s dishes.

            Let’s look at these verses against the backdrop of the first century in which they were written. The Roman Empire had many slaves, so we know that at least some of the people Paul was writing to were living in slavery. Some had been slaves their whole lives, others were working to pay off a debt. However they became a slave, the fact remains that they were a piece of property, to be treated and possibly disposed of at the whim of their master. Even the Jews looked down on slaves and started each day with a prayer thanking God that they were not slaves. Even the kindest master didn’t change the fact that your life was not your own. You belonged to another human being. I want to make something very clear: I don’t believe the Bible is condoning slavery. As William Barclay says, “Christianity does not offer us escape from circumstances; it offers us conquest of circumstances.” So, Paul is not condoning slavery. Rather, he is helping those who find themselves in that situation to live as Christ would have them live within those confines.

           Take a look at the word “serve.” What does it mean to serve? Or maybe more to the point, what is the difference between a servant and a slave? A servant has a choice. A servant can walk away from a cruel employer. But a slave has no choice. They could try to run away, but if they’re caught it could easily mean death. So, God is saying that if you find yourself in the horrible situation of being a slave, you may not have a choice in your actions, but you do have a choice in your attitude. For example, if your job as a slave was to wash the dishes then you washed the dishes, whether you liked it or not. But as a servant of Christ, you can choose to wash those dishes with a joyful heart and a desire to do the best washing job you can.

            How does this affect me today? First of all, I give God thanks that I can’t conceive of living in slavery. I know slavery still exists in the world today, but I am blessed to live as a free person. But if even slaves were encouraged to work with a servant’s heart, how much more should we? After all, we have a choice in how we spend our time. Why, then, do we choose complaining? Most importantly, I do belong to someone: God. He bought me with His own blood. And still I complain. If I would only remember the loving sacrifice of my master, how could I not complete every task with a joyful and thankful heart, even if it is doing the dishes?

“By faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.” Galatians 5:5

            I just came in from outdoors and while outside, I had to think that we’re living in a very monochromatic world today. The sky is grey white and you can hardly tell where it stops and the white snow-covered earth begins. Even the cars, regardless of their original color, are grey because of the slush and dirt on them. Don’t get me wrong. I love snow and I love winter, so I’m not complaining. I’m just stating facts. I admit, though, that I love snow more when the sky is blue and sunshine makes the snow sparkle, but that’s not today. This is the time of year when I start to think of bulbs. I don’t mean light bulbs, although I could probably come up with a spiritual analogy with those, too. Maybe something about being useless unless we have the current of the Holy Spirit flowing through us. But the bulbs I’m thinking of are flower bulbs. There’s something almost magical to me about anything that grows from a bulb. Right now, I have a ton of bulbs planted under the snow and dirt. Daffodils, tulips, iris, lilies, hyacinths – the list goes on. In every case, it seems as if nothing is happening right now. But it won’t be long before they sprout and become a rainbow of colors. So while we may think nothing is happening, God is at work in those bulbs down in the dirt.

            What always strikes me this time of year is that we are all like those bulbs. In the seasons of life when it seems as if nothing is happening, or maybe we feel as if we’re living in the dirt, God is at work. We may not see the work He’s doing while we’re in that winter of our soul, but He is never at rest. And that’s what made me think of this verse from Galatians. It starts with our faith. I’m not saying God can’t work in us if we don’t have faith. What I am saying is that our faith in what He’s doing can help us wait through the dreary winters of our lives. And we don’t just trudge through those winters. We wait eagerly. I get the picture of a child stooping down to get a closer look at a flower bud just ready to pop open. That’s how we should be. We may not know what God is going to do in us, but we can have faith that it’s going to be beautiful!

            We know it will be beautiful because of what we’re hoping for: righteousness. Of course, we’ll never be completely righteous while we’re still on this earth, but each day that we live with Christ, He makes us a little more like Him. A little more of the color of His righteousness will shine through us. That’s certainly something to wait for with eagerness! But sometimes that waiting is so hard, isn’t it? There are those times when I think that surely I’ve waiting long enough! That’s when I need to lean even harder on the Holy Spirit. After all, our waiting is through the Spirit anyway so let’s utilize His strength and His power to see us through the drab waiting. And let’s remember that when we hope for something in God, we don’t hope as the world does. It’s not wishful thinking. Our hope is a sure thing. It’s going to happen! So if you’re feeling as if winter will never end, either out your window or in your heart, remember that God is at work in that bulb of your heart and before you know it, you’ll be blooming brightly!

“We constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.”  2 Thessalonians 1:11

            Do you have a calling in life? In this letter, Paul, Silas and Timothy seem pretty sure that the Thessalonians had a call. In the present day we hear of people saying they were called to go into full-time ministry or were called to the mission field. I ask again: do you have a call on your life? The answer is yes. God has called every one of us to live lives built on faith in Him. For some, that faith has called them to do things like enter the mission field, but that doesn’t mean those of us left behind are not called. The word translated “calling” could also be translated “station in life.”  Are you living in obedience to God? Then wherever you are is your calling. The next question we need to ask ourselves is if we’re living a life worthy of that calling. How do we do that? The same way we do everything else in the Christian life: by trusting in Him, by dying to ourselves daily, by seeking Him with our whole heart. I know, I just said a mouthful, and there’s no way we can do that on our own. That’s okay. It’s God who gives us the ability and will help us with it every step of the way.

            In addition to making us worthy, He will also use His power in a couple of other ways. First is the fulfillment of every good purpose. I think the NIV says this backwards. It makes more sense to me to say that every purpose we have for good will be fulfilled by Him. In other words, what is the good you are wanting to see done in the world? What good things do you want to do? And by good, it means something pleasing to God. Whatever good, or Godly, things you are desiring will be completely fulfilled by Him. Then there’s the second part of this statement talking about acts prompted by faith. My mind immediately goes to things I’ve been asked to do without a guarantee that it was going to work out. While that’s certainly included in this, it has a broader meaning. It’s talking about the fact that we are believers in Jesus Christ. Because of that, we live a certain lifestyle. We live for Him. What are the actions we take because of our belief in Him? It may be something as simple as showing God’s love to the clerk at the grocery store with a smile and a thank-you. It may be the patience you show to the driver who cut you off or praying for the person who was rude to you. Whatever it is that you do because you are a follower of Jesus Christ, that is an act prompted by your faith.

Is that easy to do? Not for me! At least not all the time. Sometimes, I’m shocked at how simple it is to act in a Christlike manner, but other times, it feels like I have to fight my flesh to the ground! And that’s exactly what we need to do. So, this leaves us with three questions. 1) Do you feel worthy of God and what He has called you to do? 2) Do you have the ability to be and do the good you want to see in the world? 3) Do you have the strength to always live according to your Christian faith? Thankfully, we don’t do any of this on our own. We have God’s power available to us. The word for “power” is also where we get the word “dynamite.” That’s pretty powerful! There is one huge difference, however. I’ve never heard of dynamite being used for anything other than destruction. But God’s power is destructive only to our enemy. For us, it’s the power for building us up in Him and giving us the strength to carry out His calling for good among the people of this earth.

“Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”  Proverbs 12:18

            Remember when you were a child and someone would say something mean? What was your response? Often we hear, “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” Do you still believe that? I don’t, either. In fact, words can cause some of the deepest wounds we have. I wonder if that’s why God’s word has so much to say about the tongue and our words. I’m sure every one of us can think of times when we were hurt by someone’s words, a time when we felt the knife of their words go deep. I’m also sure that each of us can think of times when we’ve said hurtful things. Maybe we intended to hurt the other person, or maybe we were just thoughtless. I know there have been times when before my lips were even finished uttering the words, my brain was thinking, “I can’t believe I just said that!” Either way, words can cause damage.

            Let’s think about this a little. If I were pierced by a sword, what would come out? Blood, of course. And the Bible says the life is in the blood. So when we are emotionally wounded with words, what comes out? Our very emotional life can begin to drain from us. I think of people I’ve known who have been so beaten down by the words thrown at them their whole lives that they have no real life left in them. They see themselves as worthless, meaningless, unworthy of any kind of love. Life often seems hopeless to them. And that’s where the second part of this verse offers so much hope. Words can actually bring healing! I think first of the word of God. That’s the most important place to go for healing for anyone. But that’s actually not what this verse says. It says that if we’re wise (and wisdom comes from God), then it’s our words that bring healing. Those deep, gashing wounds can be healed! That’s so exciting!

            It’s also a bit scary because according to this verse, each of us has a choice to make. We can speak rashly, harshly, meanly, causing wounds that may go deeper than we imagine. Or we can choose the path of wisdom and spread healing in our wake. Whichever we choose, we most likely will not even be aware that we’ve caused either hurt or healing, but God knows. He knows, because He knows all things but also because it’s His Holy Spirit who takes our wise words and uses them as a salve to sooth away hurts and pains. That brings a question: if we’re unaware of the hurts or the healing, how can we be sure our words are healing words? By living in God’s wisdom. The truly wise are those who are walking so closely with God that the Spirit is guiding their every step, and yes, their every word.