“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace..” (1 Peter 4:10 NCV).
To experience significance in life, you must serve with others in ministry. Ministry just means doing good to other people. Significance does not come from status or a hood ornament on your car or a logo on your shirt. Significance does not come from a bigger salary. Significance does not come from sex. Significance comes from service. Significance comes when you start thinking about other people more than yourself and you give your life away. You cannot be selfish and significant at the same time. The Bible says in 1 Peter 4:10, “Each of you has received a gift to use to serve others” (NCV). The talents you were given are not for your benefit. God gave them to you for the benefit of the people around you. You are shaped for significance, and you find that significance by using your gifts and talents and abilities to serve other people. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 says, “Two people are better than one, because they get more done by working together. If one falls down, the other can help him up. But it is bad for the person who is alone and falls, because no one is there to help. If two lie down together, they will be warm, but a person alone will not be warm. An enemy might defeat one person, but two people together can defend themselves; a rope that is woven of three strings is hard to break” (NCV). You’re not meant to serve God by yourself. You’re meant to serve God on a team. You’re meant to serve God in a family, in a small group, in a church. You’re meant to serve God in relationship. We’re better together!
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"from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:16 ESV).
There are some things you will never learn on your own. You only learn them in community. To grow and develop your potential, you must learn from other people. For instance, you can only learn forgiveness in relationships. You can’t learn that on your own. You can only learn loyalty in relationships. You can only learn love in relationships. You can’t learn kindness or faithfulness or graciousness or unselfishness without others. In fact, the most important things you need to learn in life require that you be in relationship with other people. You can’t do it on your own. If you want to build your potential, you must learn from others. Where is the best place to do that? In the family of God. In the Body of Christ. In the church. Ephesians 4:16 says, “He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow” (NLT). You need the people God has placed in your life. And they need you! God wired us to need each other and to learn from each other so that we become the people God created us to be. “For as is one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” (Romans 12:4-5 ESV).
We only learn who we are in relationship. We only learn our true identity in community. You’ll never learn who you really are by yourself. You only learn it in relationships. That means you must connect with others for fellowship. If you had lived your entire life to adulthood with no human contact, you wouldn’t have the slightest idea who or what you were. You wouldn’t even know you were a human being. You only know that because you’re in relationship with other human beings. You learn your identity by being in relationships. The Bible says we need to be connected to God’s family, the Body of Christ: “We are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. . . . Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we?” (Romans 12:4-5 The Message). For example, my ear only functions and fulfills its purpose by being connected to my body. If my ear were cut off and lying on the ground, what’s the value of it? Nothing, because it can’t hear anything. Same goes with my nose and eyes: If they’re not connected to my body, what’s their purpose? They don’t have a purpose, because they can’t smell or see anything by themselves. In the same way, if you’re not connected to the Church, then you’re not going to know the purpose of your life. You’re not going to know your role. You’re not going to know your function. You’re not going to know your value and your meaning. Your value, your use, your purpose, and your identity become apparent in relationship to the Body of Christ — the Church. “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” (James 2:15-16 ESV).
Faith is more than something you feel. Many people confuse emotions and feelings with faith. They come to church and they’re moved emotionally, they’re inspired, and they’re stimulated. But that doesn’t mean they’re walking in faith. The Bible says faith is something we do, not just something we feel. In other words, faith is not mere sentimentality. Let’s say I go out on the street and see someone who is homeless and destitute. I see that this person is hungry, cold, and in need of clothing and shelter. Would I be showing great faith if I walked up and said, “Cheer up! Don’t worry; be happy! Feel good! Put on a happy face”? It doesn’t take much faith to do that. Faith produces compassion. Faith says, “I’ll do anything I can to stop your hurt.” Throughout the New Testament, the witnesses say Jesus was moved with compassion for people. Jesus showed us that faith is practical. When we see a need, we do something about it. We don’t just toss out a quick “Well, I’ll pray for you.” The Bible says we show our faith by what we do. "Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good." (1 Pet 4:19, ESV)
Remember what photography was like before everything went digital? When you took a picture, the first thing you'd get was a negative. Then you had to develop the negative into a positive by going into a darkroom and shining a light through it onto photographic paper. This turned the negative into a positive full-color photograph. That's what God wants to do with the injustices in our lives. We all have them. People have mistreated us. They've passed over us. They've taken advantage of us. God wants to take all the negatives, shine the light of Jesus through them, and turn them into positives - a full-color picture of the life we were made to live. The most important thing you can remember when you've been treated unfairly is that Jesus is on your side. There is no sin that God judges harsher, except maybe pride, than that of injustice. All throughout Scripture, God shows special care for people who are treated unfairly. He is a God of justice. He hears your cry, sees your pain, and he knows you were hurt. You didn't get what you thought you deserved. But God has a plan for your pain. When you shine the light of God's love through your circumstances, he can turn your pain into a beautiful picture. He develops your character through it. He makes you stronger. Most importantly, he uses your pain. You'll never get an explanation for much of the pain you endure in this life. When you get to Heaven, you may understand more about why bad things happened to you. But God does not owe you an explanation for it. But here's the good news: You don't need an explanation. You just need to know that God loves you. He has a plan for you. God will settle the score with whoever hurt you. God never wastes a hurt. Welcome the light of the gospel into it and God will use your hurt - the very real injustice that has happened to you - to create a beautiful picture through your life. And he said, "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21 ESV).
When you are a baby Christian, God gives you a lot of confirming emotions and often answers the most immature, self-centered prayers — so you’ll know he exists. But as you grow in faith, he will wean you of these dependencies. God wants you to sense his presence, but he’s more concerned that you trust him than feel him. Faith is what truly matters to God, not what we feel. The situations that will stretch your faith most will be those times when life falls apart and God seems nowhere to be found. This happened to Job. On a single day he lost everything — his family, his business, his health, and everything he owned. Most discouraging for Job was that for 37 chapters of the Bible, God said nothing! How do you praise God when you don’t understand what’s happening in your life and God is silent? How do you stay connected in a crisis without communication? How do you keep your eyes on Jesus when they’re full of tears? You do what Job did: He fell to the ground in worship and said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21 ESV). Tell God exactly how you feel. Pour out your heart to God. Unload every emotion that you’re feeling. Job did this when he said, “I can’t be quiet! I am angry and bitter. I have to speak” (Job 7:11 GNT). He cried out when God seemed distant: “Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house” (Job 29:4 NIV). Get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls." (James 1:21 NLT)
We've all noticed that the quality of reception on a cell phone varies widely. The same is true with you. You must be positioned correctly in order to hear God speak. Sometimes we never give God a chance to talk to us. We've made up our minds. We want to do what we want to do, not what God wants us to do. Our hearts are hardened, and we're unwilling to listen. When you have a closed mind, of course He's not going to talk to you! But if you really want to hear from God - and what believer doesn't? - you have to understand what is keeping you from hearing from God. There are three mental barriers that keep your mind closed to God's message. 1. Pride. If you think you don't need God in your life and want to handle things yourself, you're probably not listening for God to speak. Pride keeps you from being open to the possibility that God might want to say something to you. 2. Fear. A lot of people can't hear God speak because they're afraid to hear God speak. Maybe you think that hearing God's voice makes you some kind of religious fanatic. 3. Bitterness. When you hold on to hurt, resentment, or a grudge, then you're not going to be able to hear God, because your heart is hardened. It has grown cold and made you defensive, even to God's love. Some of you have been hurt badly, whether it happened this week or years ago, and you're still holding on to it. I want to tell you that you've got to let it go. Not for their sake, but for your sake. The resentment is killing you! Resentment is a self-inflicted wound that allows people from your past to continue to hurt you today. You need to let it go, not because they deserve forgiveness but because you need to get on with your life. You need to get rid of the bitterness, fear, and pride that keep you from hearing God's voice and living out His purpose for your life. James 1:21 says, "Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls." (ESV). "Receive with meekness, or humbly accept," means you let go of your pride and stop trying to figure it out on your own. This is the key to opening your mind and heart so that you can hear from the Lord. |
AuthorTaken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren. Categories
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