For the Sake of Your People
When we trust Christ for eternal life, we cease to be our own. All rights [even the inalienable ones we Americans feel we are entitled to!] are laid at the feet of Jesus. We were redeemed with a price, the blood of the Son of God! We are the Lord's!
We delude ourselves if we imagine that we can receive Christ as Savior and ignore him as Lord. He purchased us with His own blood and we are His to dispose of as He deems fit. Our lives are not our own to do with as we please. We were not only redeemed with a price, we were also redeemed for a purpose that God planned for us even before the foundation of the world.
The ultimate purpose is that we should be perfectly conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ and that we take our place among the fellowship of the Trinity as the Bride of Christ.
For now, during our brief sojourn on earth, almost everything He does in our lives through the sanctification of the Spirit is that we might become a more effective instrument of salvation and mercy "for the sake of His people." As the Apostle Paul expressed it, "a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work." This is confirmed by Jesus when He said, "The greatest in the Kingdom is the one who is the servant of all."
A dear friend of mine went through a major crisis of faith when her pastor husband left her for a younger woman in the church. She was crying out to God for answers and finally the Lord spoke just two words to her heart, "for others". She discovered a foundational truth of ministry; she could only comfort others to the extent that she had been comforted by God. She now has a powerful ministry especially to pastor's wives who were betrayed by their husbands.
Father, I thank you that nothing is wasted in your economy! I thank you for every trial and sorrow that drove me to tap into wellsprings of your comfort and grace that have become the substance of ministry to others. Father, let my life be as broken bread and poured out wine "for the sake of Your people."
Created 12 months ago
