Is getting your point across the motive? Is being "right" the ultimate satisfaction? Is feeling superior the pursuit?
These are questions we must ask ourselves when we are faced with the opportunity to share the light of the Word with others.
I have had the privilege of being served in a high end hotel. I felt like a princess. doors were opened for me left and right, my bags were carried before I had a chance to grab them. I was called Mrs.- all of this without reservation. It was not superficial.
On the other had I have received service where it felt like I was inconveniencing the staff. Or they just wanted to perform the task to get it over with.
Sometimes we get caught up in the "study to show yourself approved" that we forget that "in this flesh there is no good thing."
We forget that all knowledge comes from God, and we have to constantly remind ourselves that the WORD of GOD is nothing to be fickle with. It is "quick and powerful and sharp". Like a sword, it is nothing to wield around without carefulness.
When we speak the truth, God's Word, in Love ( which God is), we grow up into him in all things. In other words, we mature, and God's seeds of his character planted in us by his Word, with the indwelling Holy Spirit, they mature in us. The fruit of the Spirit matures, with every situation that we are able to exercise in that fruit.
All of this from speaking the truth in God, who is Love.
If we aim to speak the truth outside of God, or outside of Love, it will not, as in Ephesians 4:29, minister grace to the hearer. It will instead serve opposition.
The word minister means "to serve. As ministers of our Lord and Saviour Jesus, God in the flesh, what are we serving? OR better yet, how are we offering this service? With Grace and compassion, or with pride and pity?
Ephesians 4:15 (New International Version)
15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
Ephesians 4:29 (King James Version)
29Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
These are questions we must ask ourselves when we are faced with the opportunity to share the light of the Word with others.
I have had the privilege of being served in a high end hotel. I felt like a princess. doors were opened for me left and right, my bags were carried before I had a chance to grab them. I was called Mrs.- all of this without reservation. It was not superficial.
On the other had I have received service where it felt like I was inconveniencing the staff. Or they just wanted to perform the task to get it over with.
Sometimes we get caught up in the "study to show yourself approved" that we forget that "in this flesh there is no good thing."
We forget that all knowledge comes from God, and we have to constantly remind ourselves that the WORD of GOD is nothing to be fickle with. It is "quick and powerful and sharp". Like a sword, it is nothing to wield around without carefulness.
When we speak the truth, God's Word, in Love ( which God is), we grow up into him in all things. In other words, we mature, and God's seeds of his character planted in us by his Word, with the indwelling Holy Spirit, they mature in us. The fruit of the Spirit matures, with every situation that we are able to exercise in that fruit.
All of this from speaking the truth in God, who is Love.
If we aim to speak the truth outside of God, or outside of Love, it will not, as in Ephesians 4:29, minister grace to the hearer. It will instead serve opposition.
The word minister means "to serve. As ministers of our Lord and Saviour Jesus, God in the flesh, what are we serving? OR better yet, how are we offering this service? With Grace and compassion, or with pride and pity?
Ephesians 4:15 (New International Version)
15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
Ephesians 4:29 (King James Version)
29Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
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