Tag Archives: service

Bright Lights and Sweet Aromas

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Paul tells us to look at his life, he has nothing to hide. (2 Corinthians 2&3) He calls his life a Christ-like fragrant perfume rising up to God. He compares his life to Moses who, after receiving the Law, shown so brightly he had to put a veil over his face because the light blinded the people. Paul suggests his life is like that.

Paul also says that this sweet aroma offends those who don’t know Christ, the light is hated by those who reject Jesus. But Paul doesn’t let that stop him from living to please God.

I am convicted. Sometimes I wonder if what people see in me offends them at all. Or do I just blend in? Is there a veil over my face to hide the fact I spend time with God each day? Do I splash enough of the world on me to disguise the scent God loves?

I can be such a hypocrite.

I want to impact my world the same way Paul did his. Oh, I don’t feel called to be an itinerate preacher. Paul lived an honest, open life that pointed everyone who met him to the Savior. He ruffled feathers, but pleased God. That’s the life I want to live.

May others see Jesus in me, know it’s real, and want him in their lives, too. May God love my scent, and be the light in me.

But I’m Not A Preacher

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Peter and Paul are the two names most associated with the early church. Both were powerful speakers who performed many miracles. But all of the apostles had a part in those formative years.

Take Philip.(Acts 8) He also went from town to town sharing the Gospel. He was as obedient as Peter and Paul, maybe just a bit quieter about it. Obeying God, he spoke with a eunuch and led him to the Savior. I wonder what the eunuch thought when Philip disappeared. I wonder what Philip thought!

God is reminding me today that every believer has a job to do, and he honors obedience. A eunuch might not have seemed all that important to Philip, but that eunuch was important to God.

God is not asking most of us to stand before a large congregation and preach the Gospel so thousands are saved. But he is asking each of us to be obedient to speak to that one person he’s laid on our hearts.

God adds people to his kingdom one soul at a time. He’d like you to share in the responsibility, the honor, and the joy of leading one soul to their Savior.

Will you be obedient today? Will I?

The Devil Is In The Details

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The devil is in the details. I know I might be taking some liberties here, but isn’t that kind of what Jesus told Martha? (Luke 10) She was busy preparing dinner – not a bad thing because she had guests in her home. But she was so intent on serving the perfect meal, she neglected her guest: Jesus Himself!

I don’t think this Scripture is teaching us to not plan, not pay attention to details. I know I certainly get frustrated if I’m in a class where the teacher has not spent time preparing, or at a meeting that hasn’t been organized, and wouldn’t it be silly for a football team to run onto the field without someone planning strategies and teaching the plays before they meet their opponent?

I think this passage teaches us about priorities. Jesus HAS to come first. Sure there are demands of the day, obligations we must meet, things to do that require careful planning. But none of that should have precedence over our time with Jesus.

Someone once said, “if you’re too busy to read the Bible, you’re too busy”. Choices, my friend. Choices.

Bill Hybels wrote a book entitled, “Too Busy Not To Pray”. Google Grace L. Naessens, and read her poem: “I Didn’t Have Time.” I think that’s the attitude Scripture would have us have.

So get busy doing work for the kingdom. But not before you spend time with the King.

Nothing is more important.

Hard Work and Laughter

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The rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem is one of my favorite Old Testament accounts. (Nehemiah 3-6) The Jews worked together, each taking a section, and the wall went up in 52 days. I hope they had fun.

When I was a teenager, my family would take part in the semi-annual church clean-up. Like many churches, the members of the fellowship would get together on a Saturday to paint and repair, spring clean and plant flowers around our church property. There were jobs for all of us to do, no matter what age we were. I remember laughter and teasing, a covered dish lunch, the smell of Endust and newly cut grass. We had fun.

Was it like that for the Jews as they worked shoulder to shoulder with their neighbors on rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem? Did they make it a game, a contest to see who could carry the largest boulder? Did they joke with each other? Did they stop for lunch together?

The Bible tells us bullies tried to intimidate them into stopping their work. Did the Jews talk about Sanballat and Tobiah as they took a break from their work in the hot sun over a cool drink of water? Did they encourage one another to ignore the threats? I know they determined to protect each other.

I think this is a picture of what our churches should look like. People working shoulder to shoulder to share Jesus in the neighborhood, encouraging one another, supporting one another.

And having fun doing it.

Does the neighborhood surrounding your church property see a group of people who love one another and who enjoy serving God together? I hope they see a pick-up soccer game in the parking lot once in a while. I hope they hear laughter and occasionally smell the fragrance of hamburgs on the grill. I hope they see a building cared for and loved by the people who call it their church home. And I hope they are drawn to your fellowship because of it.

The Jews rebuilt that wall in 52 days. Pretty amazing. God has amazing things for our church fellowships to do, too. May he find us faithful doing his work with joy.

The Healing Stream

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As I read Ezekiel 47 this morning about the Healing Stream, I was reminded of Jesus, the Living Water. The angel in Ezekiel’s vision described water that would freshen the Dead Sea, cause fruit trees to thrive so that they wouldn’t go dormant, and produce fish of every kind for fishermen to catch.

Fruit trees, fish, a useless body of water restored, blessed, “life will flourish wherever this water flows”. (verse 9)

Shouldn’t that describe the life of a believer in Jesus? Sometimes we don’t really know how dead we are in our sin until we are faced with the Truth of Scripture. Accepting Christ’s gift of forgiveness causes our worthless lives to have meaning. We, too, become fishers of men, we bear fruit that reveal Jesus to those around us. And none of this comes from our effort, our frame of mind, or even our faith.

Just like in Ezekiel’s vision, our transformation comes when the Healing Stream, the Living Water, Jesus Himself, flows through us. Which makes me wonder.

“Life will flourish wherever this water flows.”

I wonder if I haven’t built a dam that prevents the water from flowing freely. Would a sin I hold onto, harboring hatred or jealousy, neglecting my time with God in his Word and prayer, cause the Holy Spirit, that Healing Stream, to hit a snag?

I want my life to be like that which the angel showed Ezekiel in his vision. I want the Healing Stream to flow freely through me. I want to bear fruit, feed hungry souls, and be an example of the power of God to a world that needs him. 

Dear Father, Forgive me when I begin to build a dam that would prevent you from flowing through me. You are the Healing Stream, the Living Water. What a privilege it is to know you. I pray that I will be that vessel through which you can flow freely to draw others to you, too. Give me the ability to recognize the beginnings of dam-building, may I quickly repent, and may you use me today. Refresh me. Flow through me. And may Jesus receive the glory.

A Good Heart

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How many times have you heard or said: He (she) has a good heart? How do you know? An adulterer who takes in stray animals, a thief who volunteers to mow a neighbor’s lawn, a liar who takes meals to shut-ins. Does kindness or thoughtfulness indicate a good heart?

In Jeremiah 17:9&10, we read that the human heart is “the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked.” Who can know what is truly in a heart, what really motivates a person to do anything?

Only God.

God is not fooled by acts of charity when the charitable person is harboring hatred or evil, and is rejecting him. I might be fooled into thinking a person has a good heart, even into thinking he or she walks with God. But unless that heart has been broken over sin, unless that person has repented and accepted God’s forgiveness, that person is actually carrying around a desperately wicked heart, and Jeremiah reminds us God judges the heart.

You can put pearls on a pig, but it’s still a pig. You can put frosting on manure, but that doesn’t make it a birthday cake any more than a kind act gives an unsaved person a good heart.

Can non-believers be nice people, kind, and considerate? Of course they can. Satan is the master at making sin look good. But let’s not be fooled into thinking they are ok the way they are. Because “good” isn’t good enough! And an unrepentant heart is not a good heart.

God, I pray that each of us will take a good look at our own heart because that’s the only heart we can know. Your word tells us that without you, our hearts are desperately wicked. It also tells us you don’t judge our actions without judging our hearts. May our hearts be broken in light of our sin, may we bow before you in repentance, and may you turn our wicked hearts into good hearts. May we determine to obey your word today, and may others recognize that any goodness in us comes from you.

Living Water for a Thirsty Soul

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I know that Jeremiah’s prophecy was given to the flesh and blood nation of Israel during the reign of King Josiah. But, believing all Scripture is given by God for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction, I asked him to speak to me, today, in 2014, as I read the first couple of chapters of the book of Jeremiah. There is so much there!!

When I read these words as though I was the intended audience, I hear God say: I knew you, Connie, before I formed you in your mother’s womb; Get up and prepare for action; I will make you strong; I am with you, I will take care of you; you used to love me like a young bride and followed me gladly, but there have been times you strayed.

Jeremiah 1:13 has me examining myself today. “For my people (I) have done two evil things: They have abandoned me – the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!”

Is my soul restless, thirsting, unfulfilled? Is it because I have turned from the Living Water? Didn’t Jesus describe himself in those terms? What is my relationship with him?

Then, have I dug my own worthless well in hopes of finding what I need on my own terms? How is that going? My attempts can’t hold water compared to what Jesus offers.

Father God, Thank you for your Word that speaks to us when we go there. Thank you for the blessing, and the conviction, that comes from spending time in these precious pages. May I allow you to drench me with the Living Water, and may your Spirit refresh me today so that I can serve you with energy! You are all I need. Thank you.

Are You A Toe?

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In I Chronicles 23-25 you will read a lot of names listed there. These were men who were given the responsibility and privilege of serving God in his temple. 

God calls every one of us to serve, too. Paul likens the Church to a body with hands and feet, fingers and toes, eyes and mouths. No one is called to fulfill the duties of all the parts of the body. A body is not just a toe. But the toe has a necessary function in a healthy body.

As does a finger or an elbow, an ear or an eyelash. A healthy body has every part working at it’s best.

That’s true in a healthy church, too. If I am called to be a finger and I don’t do my best, the hand can operate, but not at it’s best.

I think many churches are operating as cripples because some of us aren’t doing our parts. And some toes are trying to do the work of  fingers.

The question is not, HAS God called me into ministry? The question is, WHERE is God calling me to serve? Your church fellowship needs you. Are you called to sing in the choir, take care of babies in the nursery, be a greeter, sweep the floors, teach a class, visit shut-ins, type a bulletin, care for a web-page, wash dishes. There are tons of opportunities in every church where God wants to use your abilities. 

Tomorrow is Sunday. Are you ready to fulfill your calling? Many people don’t have to wait until the first day of the week. They are busy doing what God has called them to do throughout the week. But my prayer is that you will hear God’s voice, answer his call, and be about doing what you are needed to do in the body of your church.

If we obey God’s call, our church fellowships will be healthier, we will be happier, and all of us will be blessed. Then others will be blessed through us.

And all to the glory of God!

November 26

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I Corinthians 5-7

I know Paul appears to be anti-marriage and has been accused of being a woman-hater. But I don’t see that. Paul is frantically trying to win lost souls. He is consumed with this mission and devotes every waking minute to sharing the Gospel. And he wishes everyone was like him.

Years ago when my sisters and friends were changing diapers, sitting at their kitchen tables helping with math homework, going to soccer games and dance lessons, I was not. During that time I took on responsibilities at church – teaching Sunday School, coaching our quiz team, singing in the choir, playing the organ, serving on the board, typing the bulletin. I did not have a husband waiting dinner or children to care for.

Now I am not telling you this to hear how wonderful it was that I did all that. It is at it should be. My sisters and friends were not wrong for devoting their energies toward their families. I wish more young people today would make their children and spouses more of a priority. (see Paul’s advice to married couples in 7:1-7)

But to those of us who are not married or who are married without children, we need to pick up the slack. We need to make God’s work our baby, our focus. It’s not to say moms and dads shouldn’t be actively involved in the ministry of their churches. But let’s face it. Some of us just have more time and we fill that time up with the things that are the most important to us. Where does Christ fit in your busy schedule?

Paul said the time is short. There is work to be done, souls that need saving. We who can should be focused and busy sharing Jesus. Just like Paul.

Father, I pray for married couples and parents today. May they depend on you for the strength to meet the challenges living with others affords. I pray they will choose to be faithful to each other, to make their families a priority, and to be quick to share you with neighbors and friends as you give opportunity. I pray for unmarried people. May we take the times others use for raising children to doing as much for your kingdom as we can. I pray we all will make you our priority and, like Paul, devote every waking minute to sharing the Gospel.

November 2

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Mark 14:12-21; Matthew 26:17-25; Luke 22:7-14, 21-30; John 13:1-30

Jesus served. He didn’t come into this world to observe, he came to seek and save the lost. He didn’t come to hear the crowds cheer for him, he came to get in our faces and reveal our helpless estate. He had a job to do and he gave it 100% – even though it cost him his life.

I started reading “Not a Fan” by Kyle Idleman yesterday and it is challenging me to look at my service to my Lord. If I call myself a Christian I cannot be a bystander. I cannot be a fan of Jesus. I have to be a servant.

Jesus washed his disciples feet. Then he told them they needed to do the same for each other. When those same disciples started arguing who was more important, Jesus told them to serve, to be like him who was among them as one who serves.

I am asking myself what my service looks like and why I serve. I challenge you to do the same. Whether you are a pastor of a mega-church or a brand new believer wondering where you fit in, I pray we will all serve our King not for what we get out of it, but because our hearts are broken and we are at that place where serving him is a grateful response to who he is, as natural and as vital as breathing.

Dear Jesus, I thank you for your humble example of what it is to be a Christian. I pray for us who know you. Help us to serve you, to lay aside selfish ambition, to forget we even exist apart from you. May we serve you with every word, with every deed, with every breath. Even in that, we could never do enough to show you how much we love you for who you are… Jesus… God… Savior. At your service, Lord.