Community of Priests

"The whole Earth is mine to choose from, but you’re special: a kingdom of priests, a holy nation." - Exodus 19:6 (MSG)

As Christians, we are all priests. We make connections to God on behalf of others. As a priest, we represent the needs of others before God. We set God's word before men and women.

The Israelites in biblical time became a community of people and became a priest for one another. The Lord trained them in the rigors of faith like listening to God and receiving his grace. Moreover, obeying his commands and receiving his promises.

Israel realized that their identity is in God. Without God's presence and action in their lives, people would not know who they were. This is so true with Christians.

It is sad that many of us forget this. We forget the God who saves us and that he is with us. We need each other  to remind us of this truth.

God put us in a kingdom of priests, made up of simple Christians like you and me. We present people to God and God to people. -Eugene Peterson

Prayer

Lord, help us to speak and act your reality to those we know. Presenting them to you and you to them. Amen.

Photo by OMELI PODCAST on Unsplash

Learning to Listen

James 1:19-20

Remember this, my dear friends! Everyone must be quick to listen, but slow to speak and slow to become angry. Human anger does not achieve God's righteous purpose. 

We have to admit it. We are not good listeners. Our own thoughts and concerns distract us from doing so. Doing what we want for others is not serving. Serving others is finding out what they need and help to meet them.

How do we know what other's needs are? By carefully listening to their hopes, fears, and concerns. Effective service comes from listening and it only happens when we give our time to others.

 “The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists in listening to them. Just as love of God begins with listening to his word, so the beginning of love for the brethren is learning to listen to them.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

Prayer

Lord, please help us to give our time to listen to others especially those who are in need.

Photo by Danielle MacInnes on Unsplash

We all can pray

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

"We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." 

We can do many things for one another. We can love, encourage, help carry each other's burden. We can challenge, support, give, and serve. But we have to realize that we cannot do everything for others.

The pandemic shows us that we cannot be with our friends and families who are infected with covid or other sicknesses. We cannot do anything to show our love except maybe extending financial help.

Yet one thing we all can do is to pray for one another. We pray for people we know who are in need of healing, provision, and victory. We should pray for people who ask us to pray for them. And there is no reason under heaven that we cannot. 

“And above all, we must not neglect the greatest service that is left to us, our faithful daily intercession.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer,  The Way to Freedom

Thought

The greatest act of friendship is to pray faithfully for those we care about.

Adapted from Charles Ringma, Seize the Day with Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Live Beyond Our Limitations

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God - Psalms 42:5

Our life situations, most of the time, are not ideal. The year 2020 proves this is true. But the situation and events in our lives should not control the way we live. 

It is what we make of them that will define the direction of our life. When we overcome our fear, anger, disappointment, and frustrations.  It is the time to celebrate what we have, our ministry, and trust God for the result.*

“The important thing is to make the best use of one’s possessions and capabilities—there are still plenty left—and to accept the limits of the situation, by which I mean not giving way to feelings of resentment and discontent.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters And Papers From Prison

Prayer:

Lord, give us the strength to follow your will and not be bound by the limits of our situation. Amen.

*Charles R. Ringma, Seize the Day with Dietrich Bonhoeffer

My Burden Is Light

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” - Matthew 11:28-30

We long for freedom but create oppression. We strive for ease, but make it hard for ourselves. We seek to make our own way, yet become lost in the process. We run from God but create our own idolatry. 

So, we need to surrender to Christ to find peace. We need to embrace God’s words and ways to find true liberty. We need to walk the narrow way of obedience to find true fulfillment.

We need to surrender our own way, which finally becomes the way of sorrow, and enter the freedom Christ has won for us.

“If they follow Jesus, men escape from the hard yoke of their own laws and submit to the kindly yoke of Jesus Christ.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

Lord, make us your captive so that we can be free.

Excerpt from Charles Ringma, Seize the Day With Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A reflection on posting act of kindness

“When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you”. - Matthew 6:3-4

“The most genuine acts of kindness are done without fanfare and when no one is looking.” ― Jason Pollock

Facebook and other social media platforms give us opportunity to advertise our activities. We can even do a live broadcast of our worship service and Bible Studies. Praise the Lord! 

Many people post their every act of kindness. They promote causes, organizations, needs, and ministries to inspire people to join. Much more so that others can contribute, take part, and help with acts of service.

Yet, we need to check the motives of our hearts why we do what we do. Do we use social media so that we can earn praise and admiration, or is it out of love for people and the desire to honor God?

But you know what? The Lord prefers that some of your acts of service need to be a well-kept secret between you and God. 

Dear God, please help me love others and honor You both in my words and actions. Amen

Photo from Unsplash

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A reflection on being a servant

Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.- John 12:26

The church exists on earth mainly for three reasons. First,  to glorify God through our service. Second,  to edify the saints by serving one another, and last to make disciples of all nations by serving the non-believers.

In other words, the church exists for service. The church is here to provide us opportunities to serve. We are here to serve God and the community. God has called us to serve. He saved us to be a servant.  In John 12:26, we will learn three truths about being servants of Jesus.

Servants follow Jesus

Following Christ means being led by the Holy Spirit, make decisions and choices according to His guidance, do what He would have wanted us to do. Being a disciple and servant means we die to ourselves; we surrender our right to make decisions for ourselves. Jesus is our Lord. He determines where we live, how we live, what we do.

Servants are found where Jesus is

The idea is for us is we need to find out where Jesus is working and follow Him there. We can follow Jesus intimately and we will know.  This truth helps us see that our worship (even our worship service) should be a time that we encounter Jesus.  For some people going to church is like a duty or an obligation. But for us, it is about celebrating what God has done in our lives. We anticipate what God will do and where He is working.

God honors the servants of Jesus

When we serve the Lord with gladness with passion and enthusiasm, God will honor us. There is no earthly honor that can exceed that. Is it possible for God to honor us? According to the word of God, it is possible, yes, we can and it’s a choice. When we present Him our lives, our talents for his use, when we say take my life and lead me, Lord, He will.