Paul's story is such an amazing one of
grace,
forgiveness, and
complete dedication
to spreading the Good News of Jesus. This week women from all over
the world began the e-book “
Glorious Grace” - a
study guiding us to dig into and hear God's voice as we look deep
into Ephesians. I was super excited about this study. Seven years
ago I began to memorize the entire book of Ephesians. I only got
half way, and I hope to finish someday, but those words from Paul are
always with me. I find my mind almost daily starting “Paul, an
apostle of Christ Jesus...” It's there. Stuck in my mind. But
not only do I want to be able to quick rattle off chapter 1, I am
looking forward to gleaning Truths and Promises from the book of
Ephesians.
This
week we took an overview glance of Paul's life. What a
transformation! From actively seeking to destroy believers to a life
completely sold out for Christ we see God's forgiveness and choosing.
God saw through the hate and sins to a man who could use that drive
and passion for Christ's name. He chose, forgave, and changed
Saul/Paul from the inside out.
Paul
was “all in” with God's calling on his life. He lived sold out
for Christ, fearlessly doing whatever it took to complete his mission
of declaring the Good News. His mission was to spread the good news
and build up the body of believers. In Ephesians we see him encouraging,
building up, and showing us how he prayed passionately for those believers. I
just love reading Paul's heart felt prayers.
My
challenge from this week came from Paul's example and purpose to
share his faith, to share the Truth. I reflected on my own life. I
work in a church and spend the rest of my time raising my family
quietly at home. It's so easy to live in that “Christian bubble”
of comfort just doing our lives and sharing my faith with my kids.
That's awesome and truly has meaning, but there should be more, don't
you think? Am I so sold out for Christ that I spread his truth to
the unbelieving neighborhood/city I live in? Do I know how to share
my faith? Do I know Christ' message so well that I would know what
to say if I started a conversation?
Our
recent move took us to new a neighborhood school and I'll admit at the
back to school night I felt the culture shock of being in a community
that wasn't just all proper or preppy people where most of them loved Jesus.
I didn't know what to think. “Should I protect my children from
these people” flooded my mind I'm ashamed to say. But now I see
that we have just entered the real world. Poverty and hurting people
are all around us. I have a message of hope and truth that I can
live out in front of parents and our community without fear, or I can
just live under the radar rushing to and from school not interacting
with this group of people who seem quite out of my comfort zone.
What an opportunity to teach my children to “let their lights shine
before men.” To live for Christ and know and share their faith
when the time comes. To love even the unlovable as Christ did! And
as Paul did!
My knees might be trembling, but I commit right now to love as Christ and Paul did looking for opportunities to shine for Him, sharing my faith throughout my neighborhood.
I love this method of studying the Bible. The Glorious Grace study guide isn't filled with mini sermons. Rather you will find verses to study each week and prompts to get you pulling out truths, promises, and commands from God's Word. Would you like to join me? Pick up your e-copy here. I'll be journaling each Friday here would love to have you join me.
