A Toast to the End of Half-Heartedness

 

Friday, August 26, 2022

God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts.  Use them well to serve one another.  Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you.  Do you have the gift of helping others?  Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies.  Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ.  All glory and power to him forever and ever!  Amen.  1 Peter 4:10-11

My Dad was fond of the idiom:  Jack-of-all-trades; master-of-none.  The first half of the saying was originally a compliment to indicate multi-tasking, being able to do a basketful of different trades (skills).  Later, some cynical troll added the second part, turning a bright compliment into a dig.  The troll was, according to some, Robert Greene, a late 16^th-century writer, who tweaked the compliment into a snide rebuke of another writer, who had turned from actor to writer of plays; fellow’s name was William Shakespeare.[1]

Apostle Peter, of the historical first-century, had cast his vote over 1,600 years before, encouraging excellence in whatever you do.  And, heading-off the elitist criticism from the beginning, Peter didn’t care what skill or skills you may employ, he says:  whatever you do, don’t do it half-heartedly, give it all you’ve got.

The sole reason for this is that each Christian disciple of Jesus Christ is given spiritual gifts to use in building the Kingdom of God, by building fellow believers.  To use any gift of God in a half-hearted manner is the character of an ingrate, unable, or unwilling to appreciate the holiness of God’s gifts, a slap in God’s face.

John Wesley, Founder of Methodism, wrote that Christian efforts at doing good were to be an unceasing quest for believers, doing all the good we can, by all the means we can, in all the ways and places we can, at all the times we can, and to all the people we can, for as long as ever we can.  This is a plea for the extermination of half-heartedness – a call to arms against mediocrity, and in support of excellent, unselfish service.

The kingdom of God was never advanced by people with a cavalier attitude, acting as if serving others was bothersome, or even optional, or required little personal sacrifice.  Serving God in any way, from the highest to lowest of positions is a holy endeavor, and must receive our best efforts.  As Oswald Chambers wrote, it must be my utmost for His highest!

For You Today

If you’re a preacher, singer, teacher, Sunday School worker, custodian, or keeper of the records…your best efforts belong to God.  He gave you those gifts because He has confidence you’ll use them well. 

A word from the deep well of Apostle Paul’s wisdom to do nothing half-heartedly:

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.  Colossians 3:23

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these:  Glory and Wise Choices

[1] Images:  Pixabay.com     Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] The Phrase Finder

Of Penicillin and Fruit

 

Thursday, January 27, 2022

God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts.  Use them well to serve one another.  Do you have the gift of speaking?  Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you.  Do you have the gift of helping others?  Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies.  Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ.  All glory and power to him forever and ever!  Amen.  1 Peter 4:10-11

Everything God created is a gift in some distinct way.  “Special” is a word that is usually reserved for something that is a cut-above the expected.  And anything God gives falls in that cut-above category.  That includes you, me, and everyone else in creation.  It is my belief that each of us is born with spiritual possibilities which God has given, and we are to develop, in accord with whatever God places in our pathway. 

The first of these gifts is love.  As we begin cooperating with God’s plans and promises, we first accept His offer of salvation, or, as John Wesley often reminded the troops, rescue from the wrath to come.  Past that, we are to put our spiritual gifts to work serving the One who loved and saved us.  As we do this there is a progression of working in God’s vineyard with differing gifts of prophesying (preaching), faith, healing, discernment, and the fruit which the Holy Spirit brings to the body of Christ:  love, joy, peace, gentleness, patience, and more.[1]

But what happens if we fail to cooperate with the gifts, and the spiritual fruit God expects?  Just like with the analogy Peter and Paul use of spiritual gifts producing spiritual fruit, unengaged gifts make for spiritual fruit mold.  Mold is like spiritual gifts unused…the fruit possibilities dry-up on the vine and become mold.

I met a man early in ministry when I served as pastor in North Central Florida.  He was serving on the grounds committee of the church.  The first time I met Henry[2] was at the back door of the parsonage in which our family would live the following years.  In the conversation I found he’d been a pastor…for a few months.  He was now earning a living with his carpenter skills.  I inquired why he was not pastoring any more.  His reply was just three words:  Couldn’t live it!  To his credit, I will say that Henry didn’t just walk away from the church, he found ways to serve God, even though the gifts and calling of pastoral ministry were there.  I never learned the details of “couldn’t live it” but over the years I knew him, it was sadly-clear something had happened to interrupt the development of fruit-production, as his spiritual gifts were left like unused tools on a workbench.

Apostle Peter’s admonishment to us in today’s Scripture lesson is to use them well to serve one another.  We are to use our spiritual gifts to produce fruit in the life of the body of Christ…and be a blessing to the entire world. 

For You Today

You are breathing!  And that is all the sign you need that God gave you spiritual gifts to be used in cultivating spiritual fruit, that which God uses to bless His creation.  If your fruit is a little moldy because you’ve been neglecting time in the vineyard, it isn’t too late to get busy.  You do know that God can take mold and make healing penicillin.  So, what will you do with the time you have left? 

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

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[1] Study these passages for a deeper understanding:  Romans 12, Galatians 5:16-25, 1 Corinthians 12

[2] OK…so he wasn’t really named Henry…but he’s a real person, and so was the conversation.

Constructing the Kingdom

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Monday, June 10, 2019

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.  Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.  This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.  Ephesians 4:11-13

When God puts a gift into your hand you’re supposed to use it.  That was the example God created as He formed the New Testament era church.  God placed gifts of apostle, evangelism, and pastor/teacher in the lives of individuals like Paul, Peter, James, John, Timothy, Priscilla and Aquila (to name a few).  These men and women did not place these gifts on a shelf to be admired; they staked their lives on using these precious blessings to build-up God’s Kingdom church.

That example, and the process (God giving a gift, God’s children using that gift, and Jesus, by His Spirit maturing and multiplying everything about the church) has not changed since the birth of the church at Pentecost two thousand years ago. 

Something else has not changed about that process and the Kingdom; some people use their gift as a precious tool to build, while others lay it on a shelf, because they either don’t have the heart to do the work, or they’re afraid they’ll mess-up the work, so they never begin.  After all, there is something intimidating about knowing you’re handling the holy, knowing God is watching.

I was once given a gift of a camera.  It was a brand new 7-mega pixel gem.  I was on my way to Africa to participate in a mission project, and these dear friends wanted to undergird what I was doing.  At the time I’d just turned 60 and had never been involved in hands-on missions on foreign soil before.  I was nervous about the trip, and (truth be told) had thoughts of pulling out.  The gift was meant to encourage me (and it did that immeasurably), but the gift also strengthened and challenged me to throw myself into the work.  After all, if human friends would believe in me (hey, that camera was expensive, and they also placed money in my hands to bless and extend ministry), well, I felt like I was in a corner to do my very best to follow God’s leading.

I couldn’t record with that camera the smells, heat, and the stark poverty I encountered in southern Africa on that trip, but the depth of how God’s Spirit is working on that continent came alive in me as I did my best to labor, and keep a visual record of the work with that camera.  The experience made deep memories, and the pictures I took have served as monuments ever since to constantly remind me of what Kingdom construction really looks like. 

So, you might be asking, what does that have to do with me…I’m not a prophet, pastor, or missionary…no apostle here…I’m an average guy who goes to church and is a substitute teacher for the third grade Sunday School class.  But that’s just the point…who were Peter, James, and John, anyway?  They were fishermen scratching-out a living with a leaky boat and old nets in need of repair.  They had families and responsibilities; life was no easier for them than for any human child God ever created.  The difference in their lives, and in the construction of God’s Kingdom here on earth, was when they began to realize God had spoken gifts of ministry into their lives, that trust built-up their faith, and caused them to understand that was the very mission they were commissioned to extend…they were gifted to build up people, and so build the church.

For You Today

It’s an old saying, but how could I not say it…God uses ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things.  And to borrow a little MasterCard^© thinking and shape it into the real Master’s Building code:  What’s in your gift wallet?  And more importantly, How will you use your gifts today?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com  
             Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

Mennace & Ministry

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Thursday, April 4, 2019

If the Lord Jesus is willing, I hope to send Timothy to you soon for a visit.  Then he can cheer me up by telling me how you are getting along.  I have no one else like Timothy, who genuinely cares about your welfare.  All the others care only for themselves and not for what matters to Jesus Christ.  But you know how Timothy has proved himself.  Like a son with his father, he has served with me in preaching the Good News.  I hope to send him to you just as soon as I find out what is going to happen to me here.  And I have confidence from the Lord that I myself will come to see you soon.  Philippians 2:19-24

Elizabeth and I have had a somewhat strained relationship with yellow jackets.  When I had just entered my teens one summer, I was assisting my dad by climbing up in the oak tree near our house to cut down a dead branch that was hanging by a thread.  As I chopped-away at the dead wood the yellow jackets objected; the swarm attacked and when I jumped out of the tree, my dad said he couldn’t see my face, only yellow and black…and stingers!  I got stung over 100 times on my head and neck.  In 10 minutes I couldn’t breathe, because bee venom makes you swell…on the inside as well as the outside.  My air passage was closing.  Fortunately, we lived only a few miles from our doctor, and he saved my hide with an injection (that was the only sharp point I appreciated that day!).

Fast forward a half-century to another back yard.  Elizabeth is raking up the pine needles around our cherry tree, and the North Carolina yellow jackets weren’t any more hospitable than those of my New York youth.  She only got stung by a couple of them, but the signs of a severe reaction came rushing on her like a tsunami.  Within about 30 seconds my bride was unconscious, collapsed on the kitchen floor and I was injecting her with anti-venom while dialing 911.  The ER doctor told us we made it by not more than a couple of minutes.

For the last several years Elizabeth has been carrying her epi-pen, and Russell knows where it is!  She has also been undergoing venom therapy to develop a stronger immunity to the little mayhem bringers.  In retrospect, having had the same kind of episode in my youth made me more alert to the danger Elizabeth faced.  It made me more able to understand what was happening and act quickly when she couldn’t help herself.

I think God does that a lot, preparing us in our difficult times for times when others need us.  I believe that is the definition of ministry – bringing what’s needed to the table.  If my experience at the wrong end of 100 yellow jackets hadn’t taken place, my wife suffering a few stings wouldn’t have stirred the kind of alarm needed to act.

This is how I see Paul’s life of hardship and opposition.  The beatings, imprisonments, and opposition to spreading the Good News prepared this Apostle with the kind of compassionate heart he needed to minister to the church at Philippi, even from prison!

Paul understood, because of his hardship, the kind of person he needed to send to comfort the people who were worried about him.  Paul entrusted Timothy to be the shepherd to the Philippian believers, because he had worked long and hard with Timothy, and seen how the young man had developed a heart for ministry.

For You Today

Take a few moments to think about some of the difficulties you’ve faced.  Then imagine how God has prepared you to be a minister to those who might be facing the same challenges, and how your difficulties will give you confidence to be salt and light to someone groping in the darkness.  You might be a Timothy whom God has prepared to bring relief to someone going through deep waters.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[i] Title Image:   Pixabay.com

[ii] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

So, Which Gift?

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Tuesday, August 7, 2018

All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.  Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church:  first are apostles, second are prophets, third are teachers, then those who do miracles, those who have the gift of healing, those who can help others, those who have the gift of leadership, those who speak in unknown languages.  Are we all apostles?  Are we all prophets?  Are we all teachers?  Do we all have the power to do miracles?  Do we all have the gift of healing?  Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages?  Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages?  Of course not!  So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts.  

1 Corinthians 12:27-31^(NLT)

The body needs toes…trust me!  Fifteen years ago, it was becoming really difficult for me to walk and not cry at the same time.  The painful joint in my big toe had deteriorated from injuries and lack of attention by the toe’s owner.  My doctor tried injecting stuff to make the toe forget its’ pain, but it didn’t help.  The final resort was the knife!  That day on the operating table, my surgeon took my toe apart, put it back together, and then awakened me to go home (I’m glad he got that in the right order!). 

There’s nothing medicine can do to keep a body in working condition past the time when God calls – but, for now I walk without pain in that foot.  The point is my foot, and all those toes, are important to the health and function of my body; when my toe is in pain, my whole body commiserates.

The Apostle Paul makes this same analogy for the body of Christ, the church.  There are skills associated with spiritual gifts.  Not everyone is an apostle, or pastor-teacher, or gifted to help in extraordinary ways.  But every part of the body of Christ, like a toe in the physical body, is there for a reason God deemed necessary.  The usefulness of my big toe makes it very noticeable when pain is present.  Toes are the primary base of stability for the whole body, and the big toe, along with its neighbor, are the strongest, most durable in the body.[2]  Toes also help lengthen and quicken our stride when we push-off from a standstill; running fast requires toes!

So, enough about toes (lest they become prideful over all this attention); what about all the other parts of the body?  Obviously, we haven’t got space for the whole medical journal here – but the point isn’t hidden; we are put together by God in amazing ways.  All the parts of the physical body serve a purpose, and in the analogy of physical body and spiritual body, there is no mistake about God creating His church with such diverse, and incredibly useful/valuable parts. 

Paul gives us the shopping list of gifts, and even puts them in a kind of spiritual pecking order.  But, in the end his advice is for us to desire the most helpful gifts.  What I believe the apostle was getting at is when God selects you to have a special gift, it is for a special purpose that you will fulfill better than anyone else in the place He has called you to serve.  God gave me a life’s-task to be a pastor-teacher, teaching God’s Word and cooperating with God’s saints to put God’s Word in action.  If I put that aside to be an evangelist, or hold meetings of faith-healing, or build skyscrapers, or play third base for the Braves, or run for president, I will not be as useful in the kingdom as when I stick to preaching and teaching.  That is my most helpful use of what God gave me; it is how I am to be a steward of His gifts.

And so, there it is:  the most helpful of gifts are those gifts used unselfishly in the service of God…the One Who gave you those gifts.

For You Today

A word about the church, and your job, and your family, and your school, and your circle of friends, dfer, and every place you find people:

Take care of the body’s toes.

Just like a plumber needs an electrician, and an architect, and the general contractor to make everything fit together; your church, job, school, family, and friend circles consist of every part, large, small, seen, or hidden – some with greater purposes, and some with lesser – but all…All….ALL…ALL serving God’s purposes with value and dignity.

So, which gift should you be pursuing?  Well, what do YOU think of toes?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day. 

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] UCSB Science Line

Plant Deep & Water Often

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Tuesday, March 1, 2016

VIDEO

Today’s guest is Anna Murdock, a lifetime member of Broad Street United Methodist Church in Statesville, NC., and a dear friend in Christ.  

What follows is from Anna's pen and was posted on her blog, at PewPonderings.com on February 24, 2016, and is re-posted here with permission.  When I read it I knew this is something every Christian should read...and heed. Enjoy!

“being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1).

The instructions were clear and exact from the elderly gentleman who gave what looked to be a dead stick to my mother.  He asked a question that seemed puzzling at first… “How big is your backyard?”  Then he held out his hand and offered to her the twig wrapped in a bit of newspaper.  “Plant it deep and water it often,” he said.  Those were his complete instructions for what he trusted would grow into a fig tree.  I laughed at the thought of this precious gift of a twig from his own fig tree being handed over to my mother (who is very definitely not a gardener!) and to be honest with you, I shook my head at the thoughts that it would ever show signs of life.  But as my mother re-tells the story each season and I listen once again, we both realize that there was no question in the mind of the one who offered this gift to her.  He had complete faith that this seemingly dead twig would grow into a fine fig tree that would need a lot of backyard.

But there is more to the story….more to the miracle of its survival and to the harvest of its fruit.  The twig was offered at the onslaught of one of the worst droughts that seemed to [hover] over the area.  “Plant it deep and water it often.”  It was difficult to be obedient to the instructions of this gift-giver in the face of mandatory water restrictions.  No watering lawns.  No washing cars.  Use water sparingly indoors.  In light of all of the restrictions, my mother still planted what looked to be just a dead twig.  A bowl was kept in her sink that caught any water that would have gone down the drain.  She washed her hands over the bowl.  She emptied the juice from cans of vegetables into this bowl.  Any saved liquid was carried out to water this little twig.  In her obedience, she found many ways to water it often, as she was told to do.  The twig began to show signs of life.  Leaves sprouted.  It grew taller.  At the signs of its first fruits, my mother rejoiced.  Now look at the tree!  Beautiful.  Strong.  Filled with fruit that will most certainly be given to others.

There is truly much to be learned in this fig tree and that is why I don’t mind listening to the story of the tree’s beginnings once again.  The words of the gift-giver tell it all, don’t they?  “How big is your backyard” or perhaps better asked…”How big is your God?”  This is a parable of faith… of “being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1).  It is a lesson of trusting the One who is completely trustworthy and whose promises always accompany commands.  It is a reminder that obedience to God often includes times of testing… but obedience always produces great fruit.

For You Today

Think on these words of the gift-giver.  “How big is your backyard?  (How big is your God?)  Plant deep and water often.”  May you see in this week, God’s great certainties in what once seemed your very small possibilities.  And may you be reminded that in your faith, trust and obedience, you will most certainly see the promises of God come to fruition.  “Plant deep, water often…and bear fruit!”

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…and have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy Anna Murdock at Pew Ponderings (used by permission)