Made For This

Wow!  I apologize for the long lapse since my last post.  I certainly did not intend for so much time to go by.  

I was blessed last week to attend Maywood Christian Camp as a counselor and Bible class teacher.  It was certainly a blessing to me.  I love working with children and learning so many practical lessons from them.  

"Made for This" was our theme for the week last week at Maywood.  Our sermons each night were about something Christians were made to do.  We were made to worship our great God.  We were made to serve Him faithfully, to teach about Jesus,  to encourage, and finally Friday night’s lesson was “Made to Live the Life” – meaning the Christian life. 

Each lesson was powerful.  It reminded me of what Mordecai  told Esther “For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish.  And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”  Esther 4:14

The book of Esther never mentions God.  But it is all about His providence in preserving the Jewish people.  Mordecai  raised the girl who became queen.  He wanted Esther to speak to the king about Haman’s plan to kill all the Jews in the country. 

There are many lessons in this book but I think the turning point is found in Mordecai’s charge to Esther.  He gave her a purpose.  He gave her the courage to take on the dangerous task of seeking an audience with the king. 

Esther rose to the challenge.  We all know through her efforts, the Jewish people were saved.  It is quite an incredible story. 

We are all created for the purpose of glorifying our Heavenly Father.  For some things, that is the same for all of us – like worship.  We all worship the one true God.  We all worship on Sunday, the first day of the week (Acts 20:7).

But for other things like service or teaching, we know our purposes aren’t always fulfilled in the same way.  Each of us have our own talents and abilities.  Some of us have more than one talent.  Some of us don’t, but we are still commanded to use what we have for the good of the church. 

We do not all have the same experiences in life.  We live in different parts of the world.  God doesn’t place the same people in my life that He places in yours. 

We each have our own unique personality and our own set of circumstances.  I was not created to reach the same people you were created to reach.  But we were all made to teach, serve, and encourage. 

We were made to live the life God gave us and to glorify Him through that life.  We were made for this life…. We matter … We all belong to Christ and He loved us before the foundation of the world. 

Isn’t it wonderful to know we were Made for This? 

“ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”   Ephesians 2:10

Christ above all things - Robin

 

A New Pair of Shoes

The past couple of weeks or so I’ve been looking for a new pair of shoes – more specifically a pair of sandals that will look good with a dress or pants. After a few years of service, I’ve finally worn out the pair I have.

Every time I go shopping, I come home empty handed. I either find something I like, but they don’t have my size - or for one reason or another, I don't like the ones I find in my size, usually because the heels are too high for me to wear without breaking my neck. Oh well, I know I will eventually find something.

From a spiritual perspective, the shoe is not nearly as important as how we walk, right? But that doesn’t mean the way we actually move our feet. In the Bible our ‘walk’ means our manner of life. It is much more about the way we do the things we do and say. And I know I need to work on myself every day!

Living as Christ would have us live is hard – sometimes it is very hard. We fight the good fight every day, don’t we? A few of the devil’s tools are disappointment, discouragement, doubt, and full blown depression. That old snake in the grass loves to use all four of these! Oh, yes and I forgot one of his favorites – deceit.

In Revelation 12:9 the devil is called “the deceiver of the whole world.” The Savior Himself called the devil “a liar and the father of lies.” He will use many sources to try to trick us into many things. One of those things is that you are of no value to Christ.

Please do not ever believe that lie. Even if you or I were the only person or persons to ever live on this earth, God would still send His son to die for our sins. He loves His creation that much!

God’s love for us does not lessen every time a new child is born. That is not the way our Heavenly Father is. The Bible tells us He is not willing that any should perish. He wants all of us to repent and follow Him.

Well, it seems I veered from my original topic somewhat – chased a couple of rabbits, so to speak. Then again, believing God loves us has a lot to do with the way we walk.

It is the way we walk. Paul told the Ephesians to “walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5:2

See what I mean? Christ gave Himself up for us, so we are to walk in love. Treat everyone we meet with love and respect. Sisters, that’s the why and the how right there in one sentence.

A few verses later we read “for at one time you were in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true).”

The shoes don’t matter. How we walk does.

Christ above all things - Robin