Reclaim your talents

Eph 4:25 -39

In this section in Ephesians, Paul uses a set of instructions on how God can redeem those qualities we have that have led us to do things that we know aren't great. This encourages me, that God has put good things within us all, (even before we knew He existed) but we may not be using them to the best purpose. Here's what I am talking about:

'put away falsehood' instead, 'speak the truth' 

- some people are great communicators and influencers by nature. Those who people listen to and admire can have great impact. If you have this gift, how are you using it? Is it to deceive, pull the wool over people's eyes, not reveal the whole truth, or to be a man/woman of integrity? Whose word can be trusted and relied on? God gives people the ability to influence, and those that you are learning - where are you leading them to?

 'Be angry and do not sin' 

- it's ok, and natural to feel angry (Jesus even felt anger on occassion), but we shouldn't let the emotion carry us away. If things cause anger inside of you, why is that? Are there things that need to change in your life? Or are there causes that you need to get involved with in some way? Could it be a call to pray, support or get involved in something?

'Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands' 

- A thief is obviously good with their hands, so they should use the gift of handicraft for a good purpose. There will be a craft or skill that you can turn your hands to. Have a go at doing something different, you have a creative mind and ability see how God can use it.

'Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up' 

- tempting to join in with the crowd isn't it?! Let's see if we can turn situations, and reputations around by build others up. Words are powerful, if you use them to encourage others you will make a positive difference rather than tearing people down. Be wise in how much you say, and how it is said, the phrase, 'sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me' is a big pile of rubbish, so start using your words to encourage, support, guide and build up those around you and watch what a difference that makes to those people.

To transform the way we use these qualities may hurt, it may be difficult, in fact it probably will be those things at first, but like any good habit, if you do it enough it will become second nature and we will feel different and so will those around us. In doing this we will demostrate the God of goodness in our lives. 

What a picture of God's goodness, when others see how our lives have turned around. The theives become craftsmen, the liars become men and women of truth, the angry become motivated for change, and the gossips become great encouragers. The work will become a better place if we use what God has given us to consider others first, and to put these qualities to work! 

God's original intention got twisted by our flesh and the devil's schemes, so reclaim the talents and qualities you have and use them for His purposes. 

My heart journey

Since the Last blog, I have been considering how God has changed me and my heart.

I can testify that God re-softens our hearts as we spend our lives following Him, things that touch my heart now were once things I wouldn't of batted an eyelid to before. I believe our heart's renewal comes gradually, well it has with me anyway! 

Paul shows us in Ephesians 4 that unbelievers are taken up with sensuality - the pursuit of physical enjoyment and pleasure. So, basically the satisfaction of our feelings.

The world seems to tell us to do or not do what we feel like. Many of us, including myself, can appreciate the kind of road this takes us down, as we have been there. 

Doing what we feel might benefit us at the time, something to fill the void of loneliness, unhappiness, lack of something. 

Before I believed and truly trusted in God, I tried to fill it with; companions, education, job, food and probably a host of other stuff. My heart was hard but was desparate to be filled so I followed what I felt like doing at the time. This led me to becoming more, and feeling more alone, unhappy, and unsatisfied. The very things I used to try and satisfy my heart were actually destroying me.

In time, having chosen to take a new path, to follow Jesus, my heart has become less hard and more satisfied. I am never alone and I always have hope.

Don't get me wrong, I do have moments when I feel lonely, but inside I know that's not really true. I have to remind myself what God promises and what I have experienced to be true, so I am still getting there.

In my personal journey I am learning that what I feel like doesn't really matter all that much because there is a greater truth than how I feel. In reality, I still have days where I am unhappy, struggling (usually with myself!) and feel desperate as I don't know what to do. 

But, then, if I'm honest, I usually realise that those are the days when I have not put God first. I have listened to myself too much and relied on my own strength to fix things or to get through. This does not work to good effect. I cannot fix the big problems in life! I don't know what's inside other people's heads and hearts, I am not enough.

But, I know someone who is.

I choose to put God first, and for my mind to focus on His truth rather than how I feel. He will always tell me the truth, my flesh/head/heart may not. 

Heart v Mind or Feelings v Truth

Ephesians 4:17-32

Reading this section reminds me how important it is for us christians to, 'put off your old self'. What does that mean?

Paul makes a distinction between the 'gentiles' or unbelievers, and those who believe in Jesus Christ. He seems to identify that unbelievers have, 'hardness of heart', as we all once did, and it seems that they do what they feel like. As Christians we can also get swept away by what we feel like doing (or not doing) too. 

There are occasions when our feelings do need to be considered. Health and being overburdened or stressed and sick should be taken into account. But what I am challenging here is - do we make excuses rather than listen to God's truth? Do we consider ourselves more than we should? and should we listen to our minds more than our hearts?

From reading God's word, I have learnt that my feelings cannot be trusted.

My feelings are somewhat governed by my flesh, and the flesh is yet to be renewed.

Whereas...

We have been, 'renewed in the spirit of your mind' (v23). God also reminds us of this in Romans where it tells us we are, 'transformed by the renewal of your mind', and 1 Corinthians states, 'we have the mind of Christ'.

So, perhaps we can and should trust our minds. Our minds are transformed and renewed, so we can trust them to make better decisions than our feelings. 

If you're unsure about that, you're not sure about your own judgement, then the sure fire way to figure out if you're doing it right is to pick up the Bible, read it and pray.

Look at the life of Jesus, he had feelings, he got angry, he was sorrowful, he felt lonely, hungry, and suffered excruciating pain, but he NEVER acted out of that. He never got carried away by how he felt, he chose not to react in relation to how he felt. He acted out of what he knew to be true. 

Jesus did not give in to the flesh by obeying these sensations, he was able to overcome them by knowing what God says, knowing and trusting the mind he had. It does not mean that he ceased to feel, but that he was not controlled by that. 

We can decide to do the same.

In sports, athletes learn not to listen to how their body - their legs or arms, feel as they would not be pushing themselves to achieve their best if they did. Instead, they push on, test the limits, and in time their endurance and ability increases. If we want to be spiritually fit then we should exercise the same discipline. After all, we are told that this journey of faith is a race. So, we need to learn not give in to our feelings, cravings or desires, but test ourselves to overcome them, not to be burdened by them. The athlete can recognise the discomfort but not be led by it.

If we are to run this race so as to win it, we have to keep going as Jesus did. He endured so much especially on the last journey he had to take. The emotional and physical abandonmet, pain and sorrow would be unbearable for you and I, but he endured it for us. 

If Jesus can do this for us, can we as his followers learn to follow him in trusting the, 'mind of Christ' that we have been given?

The Saints

Ephesians 4:11-12

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.

There are a variety of people mentioned in this passage; apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, teachers and saints. I noticed that the previous five were necessary, 'to equip the saints for the work of ministry'. 

It seems so easy for us to desire to be an evangelist or teacher and to hold preachers, prophets and shepherds in high esteem, but actually what is being held up here is that these people with these abilities are necessary for the saints. So, if there were no saints, would they be needed? The importance to me seems to be that these people are necessary in order for the saints (that's you and me, the ordinary God-loving folk!) to do what God needs them to do. 

This seems a bit backwards. Most people would like to be, or meet an evangelist or an amazing shepherd and we value their gifts. It is good and right to value those with these gifts, but in a culture where everyone wants to be top dog, be the best, this is not what the Bible is seeming to say. It does say that these gifts are important, but it is not saying that that is all there is.

The everyday, normal, ordinary, keep-on-plodding person that believes Jesus has died for their sins, and has put complete trust and faith in God, is a saint. From this section of scripture it seems to be showing that these people, the ones who fill pews, chairs, seating arrangements in churches week after week and faithfully follow Christ as saints are important. 

They are the reason that there are; apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers in the first place. Without the saints would the others be needed?

The job of those with the first five roles are important. They are charged; 'to equip the saints for the work of ministry'. They have responsibility to be leading the saints and strengthening them.

Each saint is holy, blameless and virtuous, and all have works of ministry to fulfill. 

We all have purpose, yet we can all feel like we are not good enough, or perhaps that we have done something wrong, if we cannot attain to what we can see as the "more important" roles. 

God knows you are important, that's why he has surrounded you with people to build you up. He has given each of us teachers, prophets, shepherds, evangelists and apostles to follow, to guide us, to strengthen us and give us opportunities. If your role seems insignificant, think about the people that benefit from it. 

If your role is sweeping the hall, setting up equipment, making tea, praying for others, chatting to someone who is sitting next to you, or if you are the one who is always there, You're job is important. YOU ARE IMPORTANT! 

God has given those with the aforementioned gifts to you. To equip, help and embolden you as you carry out these works of ministry. You are responsible for 'building up the body of Christ - that's a pretty big responsibility!

As a church, and as a body, we need each of these roles to be filled by the faithful saints. Otherwise we won't be functioning properly. If you are one of those saints, I want to say thank you.  We are all blessed by your contribution to the church community and maybe even the wider community. I am grateful to witness your faithful service, it warms my heart and I pray that I can serve God as faithfully as you do.

One

Ephesians 4:4-6

There's a lot of repetition of the singular word, 'one' in these verses. 

one - single entity, cannot be divided, whole, complete unit.

The previous section spoke to me about how 'walking worthy' could lead to unity in the church, next this seems to show how we should be unified. In; one body, one Spirirt, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father. 

That's a lot of 'one's'! 

That's a lot of ways in which we should recognise our unity to other believers. 

one body and Spirit means our whole being as a person should be in agreement. Our body and Spirirt should work together in unison to glorify God. Our bodies are important as well as our souls. Do you look after your body? 

one hope - we are all forgiven and have freedom to enjoy a marvellous relationship with the one and only God! Wahoo! 

one Lord - we all agree God is the boss right?

It's not us, our parents, or our employers that should control us, but our Lord. He is the one we should be listening to first and foremost.

one faith - through Jesus Christ death and resurrection he wiped away our sins and proved that he was the one and only perfect human to walk this Earth. He is the one in whom we can trust to repair our broken relationship with God. 

one baptism - this act of obedience and commitment to God is common to all of those who believe. When someone is baptised they are baptised through the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, therefore we have spiritual unity through baptism.

This is God's promise that He is our one Father. 

He is universe building, creature creating, all encompassing, eternal, powerful, personal, intimate, close, kind, supporting, hand-holding, loving Father. 

He is Father to us all, we are all one family because of Him. He has chosen each and every one of us to be in His family. 

He is the one that works hardest to unify us all, surely we can do our bit to maintain the family unit?