Love Like Jesus
There are time we read parts of verses and never fully quite understand fully what is being said when it was spoken. For instance, we can read part of a verse like Ephesians 5:2 and simply think that loving like Jesus might mean just being nice. Jesus wasn't a "nice guy." His acts of healing and his service were not because he was nice. It was because he was loving. In love is being nice and acts of kindness, but without love, then can kindness and being nice even exist? Ephesians 5:2 states "And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Remember the part that says "gave himself up." That means sacrifice for others. How do you know when to do that? Would you be willing to sacrifice getting your daily Starbucks and save that money to buy homeless people lunch each day for a week? Would you be willing to do something as small as carry water in your vehicle and pass it out to those that are in need? What will you sacrifice for others that honors God? Without love there is no sacrifice, kindness or being nice.
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK,
PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
What is Your Role?
It is very easy to just go to church and pray and consider that we are doing our part in the Kingdom of God. Yet, we never read our Bibles, we don't seek to understand the depth of God's word and we don't serve. I know I keep bringing up the message of selfless, God focused serving, but this topic keeps coming up in various ways in scripture.
In Acts 5, we read about Ananias and his wife Sapphira. Ananias sold some land and while other's had given all of their sales of property to the apostles to divide among those in need, Ananias kept some of the sale of his land for himself. When he was called out for his sin, he died. He was convicted by being told "You have not lied to man but to God." His wife Sapphira was complicit in the cover up of the money as well and once she was called out, she died as well. Lesson: Hold true to your oaths. God knows what you do even when you hide it from man. Their heart was not focused on being selfless.
In Acts 5:12-16, we read that the apostles were regularly doing signs and wonders, more believers came to know Jesus and were added to the church. In Acts 5:15-16 we see, that members of the church did their part to help others who needed help. They carried the sick out into the streets in hopes that they could be healed by Peter's shadow (there is no text that states that his shadow did heal- could just be the thought of people). But, ultimately I see that others were helping those in need. We all have different abilities. What are you doing with your God given abilities to help others for the Kingdom of God? That is a question you can answer or ask someone who truly knows you. Don't be a lazy, selfish Christian.
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
Thankless Serving
Christianity is not just about liking Jesus. It is not just about knowing that Jesus existed. Nor it is about just going to church and reading the Bible and "stuff." Stuff could include Bible studies, conferences, retreats and other "stuff" that we do to grow in our faith. There is nothing wrong with anything I have mentioned, but not many people see selfless serving as part of the Christian walk.
Have you ever read through 1 Corinthians 13? This chapter describes what love is and what it looks like in real life situations. In verse 4 we see that love is patient and kind. We also see that love is not boastful, prideful or arrogant. When we serve other needs we are not serving to get noticed. We are not serving to get acknowledged. And dare I say, we are not serving toi even get a mere thank you. a thank you might seem like something we should expect from helping those in need, but do we need a "thank you" to serve? If you need a "thank you" from someone to serve then you are not serving. You are looking for human validation to fulfill a need for others. That sounds like being in it for more than helping those in need. Remember when Jesus healed a leper in Matthew 8:1-4? He didn't ask for or demand a thank you. He just wanted the man to tell the priests of the healing (but that was for fulfilling prophecies, not for selfish credit).
Paul continues in 1 Corinthians 13:13 that between faith, hope and love, the greatest of those three in love. We can tell people we love them, but we can say it even louder when we serve their needs and do it selflessly. Just remember how Jesus died on the cross for you and served our need to be connected to God. He didn't waste his energy or breath asking or demanding for a thank you. Our love for God is number 1 and our love for people comes from loving God (Matthew 26:36-40).
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
Service When Stressed
For the last few weeks I have had several stressors in my life and a big one which was a lot of school work. That sense of stress felt very overwhelming. I felt like I wasn't going to get everything finished or tended to. I even had two dreams/nightmares Saturday night that my projects were not completed by the rights dates and were incomplete. Pretty scary stuff. But today I realized, after 80% of the stress was completed, I really had been focusing on myself for a while. I wasn't making time to spend with people. I would have a phone call here or there, but I wasn't making time to sit with people face to face. I also wasn't serving in areas where God has shaped me. I was focusing WAY TOO MUCH on myself. Then Monday night, I went for a drive and passed by a homeless man sitting on a bus stop with what appeared to be all of his belongings. Before I left the house I took a cold water bottle with me. I keep these water bottles with me for the homeless people that I see. I was able to give that homeless man that cold water bottle. He didn't speak much English, but was able to say thank you.
When
we serve, it is not out of pressure from others. We serve out of our
hearts and souls with our body in alignment with God's will in Christ's
name for the benefit of those in need to glorify the Kingdom. Matthew 25:40,
Jesus tells us that what we do for the least of his brothers (all
people) then it is like doing it for him. We don't serve for photo
opportunities or to brag about it on social media, we serve out of love,
plain and simple.
By serving in this way, I get to see how something so simple and easy something easy for me can mean so much to someone else. I repeated what I did by giving out two more water bottles last night to another homeless man who resides on a bus stop by my school. I even put the bottles in the freezer for a bit so they would be cool for him when he received them. I do this out of love and their necessity to honor God. The next time you feel stressed, try taking the focus off of yourself and put it onto something else that God could want from you. If you don't know what it is like to know that you have been serving a purpose, I can't explain it, but it is very humbling.
How will you be serving in the future?
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
Discernment
Matthew 25:12 "“But he called back, ‘Believe me, I don’t know you!’" commentary- This section of Matthew 25:1-13 has Jesus warning people once again what it will be like if they do not follow him now and then wait until the last minute. When they wait to follow and just live their lives without Jesus, they can find themselves "left behind" when he returns. He compares it to 10 women awaiting to get married and 5 of them are prepared with extra oil for their lamps and 5 are not prepared. The bridegroom was delayed and those who had extra oil for their lamps were ready to meet him. Those who needed the get extra oil for their lamps (I assume to see at night and meet the bridegroom) missed out because thy were not prepared for the future they knew was coming. If you aren't ready when he returns you will be left out. Jesus can't spell it out any better than this. But he does keep giving more parables.
Wasting Time
In Matthew 14-30, the parable of the servants/talents,the master gives three servants talents (money) for them to invest and give back upon the master's return. One servant had more talents and doubled the master's investment. The second servant didn't have as many talents, but still doubled the master's investment. The third servant hid the money in the ground for safe keeping, he did nothing to help the Master. The Master did not say "hide my ,money and give it back to me upon my return." He wanted the servant to invest it at least and let the Master gain interest upon his return so that it was not wasted. Basically, the servant did what the Master could have done himself. The Master did not need the servant since he served no purpose.
Selfless Service
Lastly in Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus gives another example of how we love people selflessly. We don't feed the homeless for photo opportunities. We don't help heal the sick so that they can do the same for us later. We don't visit prisoners so that we feel better, we do it to ease their hurts and pains. In verse 40, Jesus says “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'" We can overlook so many in society from children to orphans to homeless, the sick and falsely accused. We tend to "mind our own business" or just say that we will pray for them. There is nothing wrong with prayer, but there are opportunities you are passing up due to your busy schedule or pride that thinks that types of selfless service are beneath you you. If any type of selfless act of love and service is beneath you (or you think you are better than that) then you have missed then point of what Christ was teaching.
