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For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 2 Timothy 1:6
When I was very young my grandparents took me with them on a camping trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota. Other than ‘camping’ at Bible Camp, this was my first camping adventure and everything was new and exciting.
Grandma and Grandpa had been camping for years and I learned much from him. When I read 2 Timothy 1:6 I was reminded of how Grandpa would light a fire every night when camped, or when we’d spend time at his lake cabin. Sometimes we’d have dry wood to burn and it would ignite easily. Other times the wood may be green or wet and would smolder or the flame would die out completely.
When the fire didn’t get started as quickly as Grandpa would have liked, he would take a piece of cardboard or something to fan the fire. Soon the smoldering heap would flare up into flames that would warm a cool night and cook our supper…and smore’s of course!
What Paul was really telling his student is this, ‘Remember the things I’ve taught you. Remember what you have learned about God, about yourself, about others. You, Timothy, are a gifted man. A man who God has placed in the right place at the right time to make a difference in his world.’
Our Father has the same message for us. Each of us has been given gifts and talents to be used of God. Sometimes the ‘wet wood’ of doubt can cause our flames to die out or smolder worthlessly. The ‘wet wood’ of our lives could be doubting that we can make a difference because of our past, or our current struggles. It could be doubting that we can make a difference because our gifts aren’t as good or important as other people’s gifts and talents. We could be bogged down by guilt and shame because we are suffering consequences of poor decisions in our past.
Just as my Grandpa fanned the flames into existence from a smoldering heap of wet wood, let God fan life into you to make a difference in your world. As a Christ-follower you have an important part to play in someone’s life. It could be a family member, a friend, a co-worker. Whoever it is needs to know they are loved by God and can be forgiven.
Sometimes Grandpa would have to fan the smoky fire several times before the flames would roar to life. Don’t expect change over night. Allow God’s Spirit to work in you to bring the fire in your life and the lives of others. Don’t let the ‘wet wood’ of doubt keep you from warming the lives of those who need to experience first-hand, the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
PRAYER: Father God, I praise you for making me the way I am. By faith I acknowledge that I have gifts, talents and abilities that can be used by you. I confess that often times I feel like a failure for past mistakes and the consequences I’m now suffering as a result. Forgive me for doubting you. I ask that your Holy Spirit would fan the flames of life into me so that I can warm the lives of those around me. In Jesus name, Amen.
I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. John 13:15-17
Imagine I gave you a gift and told you it was a jig-saw puzzle and I wanted you to put it together. You unwrap the gift and find nothing but a plain brown box. Inside are several hundred (by your guess anyway) small pieces of weirdly shaped puzzle pieces. No doubt your first question would be, ‘Where’s the picture?’ My response would be, ‘Oh, there’s no picture. Just work at it awhile. It will come to you.’
I’d then go on to tell you that I have no idea how many pieces are in the puzzle or what the picture will be when you get finished. BUT, you must do the puzzle and each piece must fit exactly right or it won’t work.
Even if you were a master puzzle assembler, the task would be immense and frustrating. Most of us have a hard time putting together puzzles even if we have the picture and I would guess a fairly large number of puzzles are never finished do to lost pieces or lost interest.
One day Jesus had just finished washing the feet of His disciples. This was an act of huge humility, especially for a respected teacher such as Jesus. The washing of the feet was the dirtiest and lowest of all jobs during Jesus’ time.
He dried his hands with the towel around His waste and looked at His disciples. All of them with clean feet and, no doubt, confused looks on their faces. None of them that day sensed the significance of the act just performed.
I’d like to make an analogy that may be a bit of a stretch, but bear with me. In a sense Jesus said this to His disciples. “Life is like a jig-saw puzzle with thousands of pieces, each designed to fit perfectly together. I’m the picture on the box. If you look at me and all the things I’ve done with you, the pieces will fit together perfectly. It won’t be an easy task. Life is made up of many little pieces that come together to make a complete picture. I have your picture all completed. The pieces are there. You must find how they fit together. I’ll send my Holy Spirit to help you, but the responsibility is yours to put them together.”
Too many times we look at the big picture and try to get there without putting in place all the little things that make life complete. Too many times we struggle to find pieces that will interlock without looking at the picture that Jesus has for us.
Jesus didn’t give us rules to follow for that would be nothing more than religion and people had enough of religion in His day. He gave principles of living because relationships aren’t built on rules, they are built on principles, on love.
My silly little analogy of life falls short in one way. Remember the gift I gave you? Theoretically, if you tried hard enough and had a mind for puzzles and unlimited time, you could assemble that puzzle. Without Jesus as our example, the pieces of life will never fit together perfectly. Oh, people have tried through out time. They’ve tried science, they’ve tried social awareness, they’ve tried ‘new, improved, people friendly religions’, but all those things are like putting a puzzle together with a hammer. If you hit hard enough the pieces will fit together to form….’something’. Maybe even something that looks half-way acceptable. But nothing can match the picture Jesus has in mind for the puzzle pieces He’s given you. Follow His example in making your live complete.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, sometimes life is as confusing as a puzzle with no picture. Seems I’ve spent my life trying to make pieces fit together that have no business fitting where I’ve put them. Forgive me for not looking to you. Empower me with your Spirit to see how to put my life together in the way you want. In Your name I pray, Amen.
For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 2 Thessalonians 3:7-8
When I was in Bible College I worked in a small woodworking factory. Our boss was openly agnostic at best and most days an atheist. However, one fall day we needed a new employee. He asked me if I knew anyone at the college that was looking for work. It just so happened that I’d struck up a friendship with a new student looking for work. I told my boss I did and I’d send him in for an application and interview.
In the course of our conversation my agnostic boss shared that there wouldn’t be much of a need for an application or interview. If he went to the college I went to he would probably get hired. In this small plant of perhaps 30 employees, over half of them were students or one time students at the college I attended. My boss shared with me that even though he didn’t buy all this ‘Jesus stuff’ he liked to have us working there because he knew we were hard workers and he could trust us.
During my time there my boss suffered a horrible tragedy. His five year old son died of an aggressive, fast acting form of meningitis. We as Christ-followers were able to gather around him during one of the most troubling times of his life. I’m not sure if Jim (not his real name) ever accepted Jesus as savior, I know that my friends and I had a ministry at that small shop.
Each of us is called to ministry. That ministry may take us to Walmart as a greeter or McDonalds as a burger-flipper or a ditch digger. Wherever we go, whatever we do, we carry with us an opportunity to show Jesus in the way we work, the way we react and interact with our co-workers or customers and what we do while we are on the job.
People will be far more likely to be interested in our Jesus when we show them our best effort at work. Bosses and co-workers alike are far less interested in our denominational affiliation or doctrinal stand than they are how we show them Jesus by our work ethic.
From this day forward don’t think of your job as just a job, think if it as an opportunity for ministry. Share Jesus by working hard, being considerate of others, and putting forth your best effort. People may not like you or agree with you on many things, but they can’t argue a job well done with a joyful attitude.
PRAYER: Father God, help me to see my job as an opportunity for ministry. Empower me with your spirit to attack each day with the mind of Christ so that even if people don’t agree with my doctrine or my lifestyle they will see Jesus in me. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” Mark 9:35
There seems to have been an ongoing battle among Jesus’ disciples to establish a pecking order. The comparison game ran rampant. Some would argue their case based on the order in which Christ ‘chose’ them. After all, wouldn’t he pick them the way we choose teams on the playground? The most talented would surely be chosen first, and disciple number 12? Well, you know that story!
I would imagine that the fisherman in the group argued their case for supremacy based on the consistency and size of their catch. Matthew and Judas based their level of importance based on their knowledge of finances and the Roman government, The others all staked their claim to greatness on other personality traits or passion to follow Christ.
We still play the comparison game in our churches and Christian circles. We’ve become more refined, of course. Past sins, divorce and other relational issues, length of time with the master and denominational affiliation will either disqualify you, or make you more qualified, depending on your point of view.
Fact of the matter is, Jesus sets the standard for greatness pretty low. Children, livestock, women and servants were all in the same category in Jesus day. They carried no value in and of themselves. Women were valuable of course if they produced male offspring. Livestock were valuable if there were no blemishes because they were the monetary standard of the day. Children had some value because they would eventually grow up to be heirs (boys) or a way to raise yourself to a higher social level (good looking women).
Servants? Truth be told there really wasn’t a value placed on a servant. The bad ones were sold or killed or given the dirtiest jobs. The good ones were elevated until, of course, they proved themselves inadequate. There was no glamour in being a servant. Wasn’t in Jesus day, still isn’t.
Servants had no choices in life. Their sole purpose in life was to make other people happy and comfortable. Good masters may show some gratitude (to the good servants) but it certainly wasn’t necessary, or the norm. Servants generally received no praise. They were just doing their job after all. There was no Servants Union. No one to advocate for servant rights. No United Servant Code of Ethics.
Still, Jesus calls each of us to be servants in order to show His greatness to the nations. One more thing about being a servant, and this is a hard one to swallow. Being a ‘servant’ to people who we like and who are kind to us? That’s not being a servant. Servant-hood is not based on like-ability. The crabby boss? The obnoxious customer? The angry spouse? Yep. We’re called to serve them.
As Christ-followers, our question is not ‘Should I serve that person’ but, ‘How does God want me to serve that person wisely.’
PRAYER: Dear Jesus. You showed us the ultimate example of how to be a servant by reaching out to the unlovely, allowing yourself to be the object of scorn and ridicule and ultimately dying for me when I didn’t deserve it. I know your command is the same today as it was when you walked with your disciples. It’s hard being a servant in an evil world but I know that is Your desire. Empower me with Your Spirit to be the loving and wise servant You want me to be. Keep me from playing the comparison game. I’m not better or no worse than anyone else when I walk with you. Thank you for being my servant. Help me to serve others in the same way. Amen.
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:18-20
You don’t get ‘a little drunk’. Don’t try that line with the police officer. The level of alcohol in you r body may waver, but drunk is drunk. “But I’m only a little drunk’ isn’t the most effective way to avoid a ticket. You don’t get ‘a little pregnant’. A little pregnant and a lot pregnant will have the same results. ‘I’m only a little addicted to [name your addiction] won’t work either. Addicted is addicted.
There are some things in life that are all or nothing. Following Christ is one of them. He didn’t say to His Apostles, “Walk with me a couple miles, a day, a few weeks.” He said ‘follow me’. There was no time frame, no exit plan, and no map. They weren’t given an option as to how long, or how far. Two words that took a second to say, a lifetime to fulfill and eternity to understand.
Paul tells us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Although we as Christ-followers have a choice in the matter, if we truly want relationship with Him we have to make a conscious decision to be filled on a daily basis, sometimes more often than that when temptation wins. The filling is a simple request on our part to allow God’s Spirit to take every thought, word and action captive.
Some people think the ‘filling’ will show itself in marvelous and miraculous signs. It can, but that’s not a pre-requisite. Some people think that we need to clean up our act before we can be filled, but there is no place in the entire Bible that says we are responsible for cleaning up. Jesus is the only one that can do that and He already completed the cleaning, which is why He told us ‘It is finished!’ Some people think the ‘filling’ will take away from the joy of life, the freedom to be themselves or the ability to be creative and useful. In fact, the filling increases the joy in life, the freedom to live and the creative juices in your mind and body.
Just as a ‘little light’ dispels darkness, being filled with God’s Spirit sends the darkness of our soul fleeing in fear. When you struggle with those thoughts, when you desire to fulfill that addiction, when the fear returns with a vengeance, don’t just ask God to take it away, ask Him to replace it with a filling of His Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God isn’t a mystical ghost. He’s a person who wants to indwell, empower, comfort and guide you on the treacherous and painful path of life. Ask Him to fill you. Do it out loud. Do it whenever the enemy attacks. Being filled is risky. It promises change, change that is hard at first but better in the long run. It’s an option, but an option that is required to walk in complete relationship with Jesus.
PRAYER: Father God. I thank you that Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I thank you that He finished the work of cleaning up my act so that I can have relationship with you. My life is so full of worries and fears, bruises and wounds, temptations and wanderings. Forgive me for all that keeps me from pure relationship with you. Replace all the junk in my life with Your Holy Spirit so I can live completely for you. In Jesus name, Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 