2 Corinthians 4:15
All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. (NIV)
When we broke bread and celebrated with family in our respective Thanksgiving celebrations yesterday, we gave thanks for a lot of things. We always praise the food—from grandma’s pies to the perfectly juicy turkey—and we always show gratitude for family arriving safely from all over the country. We pray at the table together, and we ask God to bless everyone at that table. As stewards of His love, we truly wish, in those moments, that our loved ones feel what we do and believe what we do in terms of our faith and our commitment to God and His bounty.
I trust in my congregation and in their ability to wear the Armor of God and to advocate for Him constantly. I trust my congregation to keep the church doing the good that we do in the community through the contributions of time, money, and faith daily as we move forward into the end of this year and toward the beginning of next. My stewards of faith and fellowship are strong, and I encourage everyone to tap into that feeling of thanks and that strong sense of God and our commitment to Him. We felt it at the table when food was presented to us and when the comfort of family and friends surrounded us, and we can feel it again even when we feel put upon, called to action, or asked to step outside the box to help now and then. We can feel it when we pray on our own, in reflection of this blessed weekend, and while we worship among familiar faces. We can tap into our reserves, our sense of commitment, and our true need to give of ourselves this season and send that energy, that faith, and that love to others.
Some of us feel that we need to give monetarily to the church. Some of us feel like we need to see what the inside of a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter looks like. However, we all know that giving thanks starts at home—in our places of worship, our homes, and our communities. We are the stewards of God’s love. We have to be active in our show of thanks to Him and in our abilities to give His love and assistance to others.
Most of us have responsibilities in life outside of church. We have families and we have careers. We are enmeshed in activities and with groups that have nothing to do with church on a daily basis, but we still remain Christians in all aspects of life. We must realize that we need to advocate for our faith, reminding ourselves and others to put God first. We need to make sure Jesus is in our hearts—at work and at church—wherever life may take us.
Being advocates or stewards of our faith is a noble thing. It is not easy to insert into daily conversations that we are Christians and that everyone should heed God’s Plan in this time of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year. Even beyond inserting our faith and our commitment to Jesus Christ into our daily conversations, we have to walk with the Lord and go about our business in the way that He would want us to. We have to remember to pray, and we have to constantly remind others that there is no room for harsh words or gossip during this season of love and giving, or at any other time of year for that matter. There is no room for exclusion and snobbery; there is only room for thanks, support, and blessings to others.
I know this is hard when we’re at work with people who aren’t always Christian in their behavior. I know it’s also hard when the bills or the emotions of the season get us down. But as Christians, we have to set aside that strength and do what we need to in order to make our faith clear and our stewardship of God’s Word a daily devotion. Only when we take our strong faith outside the church do we reach those who God may not have touched this season. Only when we are brave enough and secure enough in our own faith can we reach those who were previously unreachable. Let us all strive to become stewards far beyond the walls of our respective churches.
Proverbs 16:3
Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. (NIV)
When we pray during this upcoming holiday season of hope and celebration, we focus a lot on giving thanks and asking God to bless us and those we love. We do this a lot communally during this season. This may be the only time of the year that we use the words “blessings,” “thanks,” “prosperity,” and “hope” so often, or repeat phrases like “the year ahead” and “the year behind us.” We are reflecting, and we are hopeful. We pray that the year before us is a good one, and we give thanks for good things and the lessons learned in the year behind us. Wearing our Armor of God, we march forth into what awaits us in the future. Polishing off the dents and affronts to that armor, we think over the past and what it meant for our lives and our futures.
As individuals, I’m not sure we are always able to confront what transpired in the year behind us. Maybe we are hesitant to think about the future as well. As a worshipful group, however, we can confront these impending futures and reflect on troubled and happy pasts. As a group, we are strong, and we are ready for the future. We can confront what we learned or should have learned from the past and make sure that our armor is ready for the year ahead. Some of our plans for success in life are pretty lofty. Some of our fears for achievement or repeating problems of past years are also pretty prevalent and even daunting. If we pay attention to the verse referenced here, if we commit our prayers entirely to the Lord, our plans will come to fruition in some way.
Sometimes, deep inside we don’t realize that when we ask for financial stability, for example, we are really asking for a comfortable life and a way to take care of our families. We don’t always see the connection between voicing our need, making it real, and taking steps in our professional and Christian lives to make it happen. We don’t see that we are the instruments of our own success, and we don’t see that the Lord is helping us because we are prepared and ready. When we ask for a relative to be healed from an illness, we don’t always see that what we are really asking is for Jesus to be with that person in his or her need and that, with the comfort of the Lord, we all handle the situation better, no matter the outcome.
Being stewards to our church and to our God is actually easy in many ways. We want to provide monetary means for the church to continue its work in our lives and in the lives of others, and we want to be physically and spiritually present so that we can reap the benefits of a Christian life lived in service to God, to our church, and to others. Only then can we find true happiness and success, as the Lord will reward those who seek to better themselves and to serve Him in every way.
As we are entering the season of celebration, many of us will be giving thanks with family over large meals, or spending time in the cooler, crisper air watching kids play football and soccer, or enjoying time with neighbors and friends outside before the real winter weather finally sets in. Others, however, will not be as lucky and will worry about finances and food, as well as lack of fellowship or support, and may begin to despair or allow sadness and desperation to creep into their consciousness. Those of us clothed in the Armor of God, however, will emerge triumphant from these thoughts or challenges and will stand ready to assist others.
Through the church and our involvement with different ministries, we do make a difference in the lives of many. We don’t always realize it, especially when we are caught up in the day-to-day delivering meals to people who need them, working to make our youth in the church involved and happy, and making sure the music, message, and fellowship is in place for the weekly worship, among many other tasks. However, if we do stop to think about it—maybe when we are checking to see if our own armor and protection is in place or when we think about our own families and their challenges or specific needs—we are responsive and giving. If we continue to move along at a pace that doesn’t allow for introspection, prayer, fellowship, or stewardship, we forget that it is the church that allows our giving ministries, and it is the church that provides our support so that we might do more good in the community.
In the Bible, 1 Peter 4:10 says, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms” (NIV). To me, this is a direct command to take what we have and give to those who need it. Stewardship can take many forms or appear as gifts to share from one individual to another. Do you have a skill to offer to another? Do you have a talent for cooking that might well serve the family dealing with a serious illness? Do you have financial freedom that can be shared with individuals or the church? Do you have time on your hands that could be used to support others? Our armor and our talents come to us and are used and worn by us in many ways. In this season of giving and support, we need to remember our role as stewards to help spread the Word of God and to help the church complete the work that needs to be done.
Ephesians 6:16
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. (NIV)
I talk a lot lately in my posts about the enemy and the attacks that we must offset and prepare for in the future. Some of my scenarios are easy to understand—strife in families, terrible tragedies that come out of nowhere, and feelings that leave us ostracized or confused. Other scenarios are more difficult, like the idea of temptations, indiscretions, or the guilt born of bad decisions and behaviors that do not make us proud. These are hard concepts to rectify or justify. They are uncomfortable and, many times, not able to help us remain good Christians or devoted to our families. Still, we have these minor infractions against what we feel is our good character.
Let me point out now that if we allow the enemy to tempt us into bad business deals and questionable personal decisions, we let the enemy win. Once we extract ourselves from these situations and make amends, but then again allow him to torture us with guilt, memories, and feelings of inadequacy, then we are allowing him to win yet again. Part of staying vigilant when the enemy is close is making sure that he cannot get to us again and send us off track or make us less effective. We need to extract ourselves from bad situations, note them for future reference, learn from the experience, make amends with God and our loved ones, and move on. Above all, we need to forgive ourselves and use our experiences to become better than we were previously.
I firmly believe that the flaming arrows sent our way by the enemy are not the visible, terrible things that can happen in life. Instead, they are the attacks from behind, in the night, or when we are not looking. They are the jabs at us when we are down or vulnerable and just waiting for someone to nudge us into self-loathing or turning away from God in shame. It is in these moments that we must be ready with our shields, born of experience, strife, and even guilt and shame, to offset what the enemy throws at us. Remember, I have posted before on the value of these past bad experiences, and I firmly believe that we need to use them for positive growth as opposed to negative retrospection.
