For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 1 Timothy 4:8
What message will we bring to a non believing world? Will it be a message of a liberating, light bearing Savior, or will it be one of an intolerant, legalistic, Christian.
Long ago I took to heart the Bible’s message to ‘Love my neighbor as myself’. Where I really fall on my face, is when Jesus tells me to “Go and make fisher’s of men”.
This sounds so simple, but I have wrestled with how I can do this when orally my skills are woefully lacking. When I try to tell others about Jesus, I get overly anxious and the wrong words come out of my mouth! Frustration sets in and I think “How can anyone not see or accept these truths”?
I know I am not one who can carry a good theological argument! I forget it has taken God years to teach and bring about much needed changes in my life. Even longer for me to learn that His first interest is in a relationship with me, not my drumming up converts.
Learning that God is more interested in my character development than with His development in other peoples character and salvation, has not been an easy lesson for me to grasp.
I am left begging the question… “Lord, how can I be salt and light when my words and actions turn people away from you instead of towards you”?
Painfully I have learned that my goals and desires were not lined up with God’s. Being the person God wants me to be is not by my trying to manipulate and conform people or circumstances.
Joseph Stowell’s book “The Trouble With Jesus” says we can be salt and light by …
* Declaration: Speaking up for Jesus… For me I have learned that it is usually through my writings that I can communicate this best.
* Demonstration: Showing up for Jesus… Wherever He places you, in a mall distributing shoe boxes, helping out a friend, or being there to comfort someone who is mourning the loss of a loved one, show up for Jesus.
* Compassion: Reaching out for Jesus… I do this by showing others He is my first line of defense where I obtain all my needed strength, help or answers.
Community: Loving for Jesus… Even those you find unlovable. It is amazing how Christ’s love can soften the hardest of hearts, including your own.
Consecration: Living for Jesus… When I read His Word, spend time with Him in prayer, it brings me much joy and peace, along with giving me the patience to wait upon His timing.
Jesus can use your service when your goals become His goals, your desires His desires, and when you care more about relationships than your own achievements.
I have learned that is when I am truly ‘Fit for His Service’.
How Fit are you?