Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
I have been addressing our role in leading people in being who they each are for the sake of giving God’s life to their world. Our destiny in life is not merely for ourselves. Our destiny in life is for the sake of our world and for those in our world. As leaders we lead others to know who God is and to know who they are for the sake of bringing God’s life to their world.
Each of us makes a great us and a terrible someone else. When we discover who we are, we can find the grace to be who we are for the sake of bringing life to our world.
We have each been given a combination of motivational gifts from our heavenly Father that serve the uniqueness of our ability to bring life to others. Those internal motivations determine our ability to function in various realms of responsibility. Those realms of responsibility are the place of our destined authority. They are not motivations that are bound to church structures or meetings, they are motivations that enable us to be who we are for the sake of others as the church. A change of meetings, forms of meetings, types of gatherings, or other circumstances of life don’t stop us from being the church. We must all love and live for the wellbeing of others at all times, but we each do so in different manners and by different ways of thinking.
Romans 12:4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
These describe our giftings, but no matter what our giftings, our giftings only serve our ability to bring life to others in our world. We must appreciate the way of one another to be life to one another in the way that God has made us. Those who are motivated to perceive are not greater than those who are motivated to serve. Those who teach are not greater than those who are motivated to exhort others. Those that exhort are not better or less than those who are motivated towards mercy. Those who lead are not greater than those who join to their leadership for the purpose of God’s life in this world. We are each motivated to fulfill a measure of authority. That authority will bring life to others. We are not called to measure others by the motivations of our own hearts. We are called to present our bodies for a purpose that is greater than who we are by ourselves. We must each live according to the measure of grace given to us by God for the sake of being the body of Christ in the world for the calling of Christ, the testimony of Christ, and the purpose of Christ in all things. When we measure others by our own motivations, we reject the gift that they are for the sake of our corporate testimony in Christ. When we live for ourselves, we rob the community of the grace given to us for the sake of being who we are meant to be together in Christ. All are called to demonstrate love, but each and everyone loves in the way that they love. Some see the precious in what seems to not be precious, while others have a grace to break open what appears to be a flawed vessel to reveal what is precious so the precious can become useful for the sake of God’s glory. Everyone is called to give, but some have a grace motivation of giving. Those with the grace motivation of giving are not to measure others by their standards. They are to demonstrate giving for the sake all being an expression of Christ together. They are even called to give to the extent that other expressions can receive the necessary supply to accomplish the greater purpose of the being the body of Christ. Those who serve are not called to measure those who teach by their standard of serving, but to serve to fulfill their part in being the body of Christ. No member is to measure the other members but to present their bodies for the corporate purpose of God in Christ. This same principle is true for our marriages, our families, and our role in our spheres of influence in our world. We must not allow any enemy to distract us from who we are meant to be, nor to be taken out from the corporate purpose of life in Christ. We must be true to whom God has made us to be. When we embrace who we are in life, we can bring life to others. We were created to bring life to this world!
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728
