Ephesians 6:1-9 may be my LEAST favorite passage of scripture. Because both of my parents are home with the Lord, the part about honoring your parents haunts me. Did I do all I could to honor my father, particularly after mom died? Probably not and for that, I am saddened, but forgiven. My dad was a difficult man to please and most of his words were critical.  As an adult, I could finish his critical comments often before he even uttered them. Though I do not believe it was my father’s intention to hurt me, he did.  There was always tension in that very vital relationship and it colored all other authoritarian relationships. Nevertheless, I did not take very good care of him after he moved back to Arkansas. I did not honor him as unto the Lord, with a sincere heart as unto the Lord.

The second half of these scriptures is about work relationships or perhaps community relationships. Any place there is authority in my life and I am not it. (Which are most places) Jon pointed out that according to this passage there are three way to responds in relationships exampled here, parent/child, slave/master and the reciprocal relationship of master/slave.

1.       Obey – Act on what you have been told to do, what you know to do and then to it

2.       Honor –To defer to another out of respect for position or age

3.       Serve- With a sincere heart not as unto man, as people pleasers, but unto Christ

He posed a question that poked me in a sore spot in my relationship with authority.  How, he asked, is your struggle with current authority connected to unfinished business from previous authority, specifically parental authority (for me).

The words that followed were, where might God be working there, exposing a place that needs to be surrendered?  Ouch!

This morning as I reflected on this passage, I asked the question, if I honor, obey, and serve from a place of sincerity, what would change in my work environment, community, and school? How would it look different? What needs to change?

 

Be grateful – develop an attitude of gratitude (God inhabits my praise so when I praise him I see him more clearly.)

Keep a balanced perspective – do not make work, school, or community more important than my relationship with God.

Do my best – as until the Lord not in perfectionism, which is self focused.

Be a good steward- of the resources of time, materials, and gifts.

Honor the authority- instead of gossiping about it and/or developing resentments.

Love people- because Christ died for them

Give grace – model Christ, speaking the truth in love not pride.

 

In relationship with Christ, I must do the same, obey, honor and serve; do what I know I have been told, defer to his authority and serve from a sincere heart for him, not man.

There was so much more in last night's teaching but this is where I landed. I'd love to hear what God spoke into your life. If you would rather not post here, you have my email.
Blessings,
Vicki

 

Ebb and Flow: Rhythms of Waiting

Waiting for God to reveal his direction is like watching the waves reach the shore. BIG MOVEMENTS, smaller movement, some sideways and crossing, but in the end, you find yourself standing in the tide, surprised somehow by the waves kissing your feet. You run to preserve what had been ill prepared, though you watched carefully the movement towards you. Surprised . . . why? Yet it was for this movement, this direction you had longed and pleaded for, as you hearts desire. There is an example in the movie Facing the Giants that demonstrates this well. Two farmers in the midst of a drought, plead with God for mercy in the form of rain. One farmer continues to till and work the soil, planting as if. The other waiting idle for God. The question is "Which farmer believed God?" The admonition, "Prepare for rain."

Ephesians 5; in the behavioral side of the book says, Be imitators of Christ and verse 16 continues the "how" part with "making the best of your time" and then verse 21"  . .submitting to one another our of reverence for Christ."  Jon Byron taught Ephesians 5:21-33 on Sunday night at The Gathering, about submission, the position, the paradigm, the practice.  The paradigm shift is provided in the example given by Christ. The willingness to come under authority of another by choice, to lay down my own agenda for the agenda of another. Coming under, by choice, the headship of Christ in all relationships, not only for the sake of the horizontal relationship, but primarily because of the vertical one with Christ.

That often means waiting, as Jesus did for his Father's will, demonstrated repeatedly in the Gospels. He deferred to his Father's will, his Father's timing, his Father's purpose.

Are there dreams, requests, desires, expressed or repressed you have abandoned because God appears to be motionless? Go spend a day observing the movements of the Ocean and prepare for the tide to reach the shore. Be imitators of Christ in the waiting.


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