Daily Devotional for August 2, 2016

Ephesians 4:1-4
As a prisoner of the Lord, I beg you to live in a way that is worthy of the people God has chosen to be his own. Always be humble and gentle. Patiently put up with each other and love each other. Try your best to let God’s Spirit keep your hearts united. Do this by living at peace. All of you are part of the same body. There is only one Spirit of God, just as you were given one hope when you were chosen to be God’s people.

Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.

For almost a year now, our soon-to-be-four-year-old nephew, Nathan, has spent Mondays and Fridays with us while his parents worked and his older siblings went to school.  We’ve had a lot of fun together…and in the course of this year, we developed our own little routine.  So when summer break happened, and Timothy and Zola started to come to our house on Mondays and Fridays along with Nathan, there were some definite adjustments to be made.  Have I mentioned that Nathan really doesn’t like to share?!

Just yesterday, Nathan would start a puzzle and insist that Greg or I sat with him…not to help – but to observe.  “Just watch me,” he would say. He knew that if we sat with HIM, we could not spend time with his sister, Zola. When Zola decided to take a bubble bath, Nathan said, “Let’s go to your office for some alone time, Debbie.  We need some alone time…right?”

For all of this little guy’s jealousy, he can also be patient and gentle with his sibs.  While Zola worked a jigsaw puzzle that Nathan had earned for good behavior, he encouraged her…”You’re doing a good job, Zo!”  Often, when I will have something for one child, he/she will ask, “Do you have something for the others?”  At the end of the day…far beyond typical sibling rivalry…the hearts of these children are united.

We can learn a LOT from observing the relationship of three young siblings.  We can see their struggles to have individual thoughts and ideas…to be validated in their own right.  But we can also see how they work out their difficulties with each other.  Often, with very little prodding from adults…they DO figure it all out and make amends.  So why can’t we keep doing that as we get older?

There is such a divisive spirit in our country right now.  It’s prevalent everywhere you turn – even in our churches.  Everyone wants to be right, as if we are vying for the front-row seat at the feet of Jesus, and we dare not allow another to get ahead of us in the “Praise and Recognition Department!”  We can never admit lack in any way. We cannot concede that we might be mistaken – or worse…that the other guy is right!  Apologies and petitions for forgiveness are NOT an option. Humility is seen as a sign of great weakness.

In the first four verses of Ephesians 4, we find a wonderful model for how to conduct our lives as Christians. The very first sentence tells us pretty much all that we need to know…”live in a way that is worthy of the people God has chosen to be his own.”  A big part of why we act as we do is our innate desire to be loved and accepted.  Let’s get one thing straight…if you have given your heart to Jesus and claimed Him as your Savior, you are forever loved and accepted by God Almighty!  You don’t need anything – or anyone – else!

Let’s all agree to spend some time in prayer – for each other and our world.  Let’s ask God to reveal to us where we are living selfishly…where we refuse to share and to speak and act with humility and respect for the other person.  Let’s figure out where we fail to acknowledge that God’s love is big enough to include ANYONE who wants in on it…and ask God to fix this!

There is nothing with a little “alone time” with God.  But when our heart is not united with the rest of God’s children…when we demand an exclusive relationship with Him – even at the expense of other people and their thoughts and feelings…we have missed the mark - and the essence of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  We can turn this around, with God’s help.  But we have to start the ball rolling by doing our part.  I’m in…are you?


©2016 Debbie Robus

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