May 13, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Find out what pleases the Lord. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.” (Ephesians 5.10; Ephesians 6.7-8)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

The measure of integrity might well be “objectivity.” By this I mean, that how we may determine the integrity of a work, an act, an idea, a thought and a person is to have an objective baseline. For mighty ones of God, this baseline rubric is “the will of God.” Yes, I know that many would love to interpret what they believe the Word of God is saying “I think this” or “I believe this.” I recently had a discussion with a person who offered to others a “definitive biblical study” that would allow them to see her interpretation of Acts 10.15 was not about “eating.” In fact, she professed to have an entire Bible study from Genesis to Revelation at her disposal. I did not pursue that profession as to its authorship being her own or someone else’s. But I did offer some scriptural notes concerning the entire context of the Peter’s vision while in Joppa which God revealed to him. The accusation offered to those who challenged her was that we were “cherry picking” and ignoring the entire context. She proposed that it was solely about an evangelistic thrust focused on “people” and not food. Difficult for me to see one without the other. Even our Lord Jesus whose greatest purpose was to bring the offer of salvation to the entire world described Himself as bread from heaven. In the institution of the Seder, He interpreted the purpose and promise of the elements themselves as the precursors of the new community of faith which was His body and anointed by His blood. In the act of common union, “The Lord’s [Last] Supper” has served the purpose of calling all believers together to remember His sacrifice, His promise and His provision. The Temple leadership and teachers of the Law were horrified to think that Jesus would invite followers to “eat His body” and “drink His blood.” At that point, He was not speaking of real food but of the Word of God which was His real food. We know that from His conversation with the disciples near Sychar. There as He ministered to the woman at the well and brought her into forgiveness and salvation, the disciples questioned why He would commune with a Samaritan woman. They offered Jesus bread to eat but He replied, “I have food you know nothing about. To do the will of My Heavenly Father is bread to Me.”

You see, this is an example of serving with integrity. Aligning one’s decisions with the Word of God becomes the sustenance of our lives. Putting our trust in His provision allows our wants to dissipate into knowing God meets the needs of our lives. I love it when someone quotes the passage “With man this is impossible, but all things are possible with God.” Understood in context, Jesus is pointing out that the means of salvation are in God’s design. He can save whomever He chooses and how He chooses to do so. But human beings cannot truly save themselves save that they believe “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God acknowledging Him as Lord and Savior through the confession of their sins and their profession of faith in taking up the cross to follow Him.” This becomes bread for our souls and the meat of the gospel. The consistency of faith and works portrays before all the world the integrity and veracity of our witness of the witness of Jesus Christ. The fatal flaws are revealed when we use the gospel to serve our own agenda and showing the world that we are more slaves to self than God. The extension of such flawed thinking then is the contracting of others then to be slave to us meeting our wants as if they were authentic needs. How can we ask others to serve us when we are not truly serving the Lord? If we are truly serving the Lord, then why do we need to ask others to serve us? Are we not, because love is our aim, seeking opportunities to serve others so that the fulfillment of the new command given to us to “love one another” might be made known?

Let us, as followers of Christ being mighty ones of God, be objective about our objective. It isn’t just a feeling but a fact. It is not just a moment in time but an eternity. It isn’t about us, it is about God our Father through Jesus His Son.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit brought us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit so that others may be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind that we would know that we are Your people and that You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.