Gosh I feel lazy today, the sun is out and it's so unbelievably hot.
I would love to go for a run though, or maybe practice the guitar a bit.
Or play with my new effects pedal, or watch an episode of Big Bang Theory.
I hate to admit it, but it seems that you're pretty low on my list of priorities.
And the temptation to ignore you, and let myself be distracted is still a little heavier than my love for you.
But yeah I'll try and focus for a while and spend this time with you.
A note on Paul.
Paul was one of those annoyingly focused and committed guys. I love his boldness and am always challenged by his devotion in trials, but sometimes he also annoys me a little bit. Unshakable unwavering and steadfast. I'm kinda glad i'm not Paul's disciple, we would have been at each others' throats half the time. Him pushing for my submission to Christ, me pushing and fighting for freedom...
I can just imagine it.
N-Paul you said all things are permissible.
P-Well I also said not all things are beneficial.
N-That's not fair! You're implementing rules just like the pharisees did!
P-Would you rather i stand by silent and let you treat the blood of Christ as a cheap thing?
N-Whatever...
P- I gave you an option, therefore the correct syntax would be whichever. I'll come back with Timothy tomorrow to talk some sense to you.
But the more of the epistles I read the more I see that he did all this out of love for God, and that love for God translated into love and passion to see God's children grow. You see how his love for God translates into his love for the church in every sentence of his letters to them.
Paul's Prayerful Passion.
15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
Paul heard that the Ephesian church was doing well, and he desired that God would give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, not that they would be encouraged, or have knowledge of the future or anything like that, but simply so that they could know God better. A couple of things challenge and strike me about Paul here. Firstly his passion for intercession. Paul had heard of the things happening in Ephesus and of their faith and love and his reaction was to pray for them and thank God for them. And Paul's greatest hope was that the eyes of their heart would be opened to the hope they have in Christ and that they would know God more through the revelation of the spirit.
As I write this my heart thinks of the people i care about. The guys i do bible studies for. I should be praying for them more, but more than anything. I realize that often, I'm the one trying to solve their problems. Praying and giving them advice. When really that isn't my place at all. My place is the same as that of Paul. To pray for them and guide them to the one who holds their future and knows his plans for them in His hands. So they would know Him. Me holding on to that role seems almost like me not trusting God to be who he is, and in a strange way doubting him.
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people.
Our inheritance is not just God but is literally in his holy people. Our inheritance is a part of the body of Christ. Not just salvation, but purpose. Not just conviction, but action and interaction. And to top it off we are filled with power of God, which is the same power that God exerted when he resurrected Christ from the dead, the same power that has given Christ authority over all things, the same power that the Holy Spirit has inside us.
It strikes me that if that power in us through the holy spirit has the power to raise the dead, then it is the same power God used to make us new creations in Christ. That resurrection power is what gives us hope in any situation. That resurrection power is what gives us... well resurrection. Death to the old way of life and a new life in Christ.
More than anything I think Paul got this down. That's why he fought for transformation in his own life and the lives of others. That's why he could pray so passionately for the people in Ephesus. Because he knew thee potential each of us carries simply because we embrace Christ and the Holy Spirit embraces us.
Where do I go from here.
If I can learn just one thing from this portion of scripture. It's not to bear the burden for others. But to bear Christ. Not to try and solve the problem for them, but to surrender the solution to them.
To bear the cross, which bears thy name.
To count your grave, as where I was lain.
To walk across this earth for your fame.
And lead those being saved, to the one slain, that they would remain.
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