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March 2001
LIVING IN LOVE
By Jean LeStourgeon
Irritation and anger hovered around me like a dark cloud and rained down onto my unsuspecting husband as I made preparations for our Christmas open house. My thoughts were full of "Why am I doing this? I am not feeling well and I am feeling miserable about 'having' to do all this work."(Which by the way, no one had asked me to do, it was my own grand idea.) I had even vowed to God "You're going to have to change my heart, if I'm ever going to do this again." What was my purpose? What was my PROBLEM? In the midst of my own little thunderstorm, I realized that I had completely lost my perspective on this Christmas celebration.
Before we consider the answers to these questions, let's take a look at "The Work of God." At least 22 times in the book of Ezekiel, in reference to His judgment on His people Israel, God says He is doing it in order that "you will know that I am the Lord." John 1:18 tells us that it is Jesus who has made the Father known. These scriptures together with the pattern of work that Jesus teaches us about in John 5:19 tell us loud and clear that just as God's plan is to make Himself known and Jesus implemented that plan, we are to follow suit.
So, when we ask ourselves the question "How Shall we Live?" one of our greatest concerns as Christians should be whether we are consistently expressing the character of Christ in everything that we do. Character has been defined in these recent years as "what you do when no one is looking." I'd like to expand that definition to include "what your attitude is when no one is noticing." When we think of expressing the love of Christ to others, our thoughts often go immediately to a lost world. We sometimes forget that we are to demonstrate Christ's character towards the members of our very own family. But, as I so adequately demonstrated to my husband, I could not reveal Christ to him, unless I first had the mind of Christ myself. And, Christ's mindset was service, pure and simple -- SERVICE! I had missed it completely as I stormed around my kitchen getting ready for our Christmas festivities!
In my own case, I was feeling neglected, overlooked and under appreciated for all the hard work that I had to do to prepare for the day. I was looking to my husband, rather than to my God to meet my needs. The scriptures tell us "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord."(Col 3:23.) There's a good, practical application for that scripture and it's simply this: work can be hard, thankless, tedious, discouraging and tiring. We are all prone to these feeling at some time or another. In this fallen state, where we groan as if in the pains of childbirth, waiting for the day of our liberation from this world and everything in it, we must keep our eyes fixed on the One who is our Hope and our Liberator, lest we get caught up in the trap of self-loathing.
Another practical application for Col 3:23 is this: if you are going to be a bondservant of Christ, you must continually look to the hand of your Master. A bondservant of Christ always finds his or her joy in knowing that they are greatly appreciated by their Master, whether those around them show their appreciation for their efforts or not. When we display a Christ-like attitude and do our work as unto the Lord, our Father finds much pleasure in us. Like an automatic reply on your e-mail, God returns the delight He has for you, as a message of joy that He delivers straight into your heart.
But, how do you maintain a Christ like attitude when you are in the midst of a trial? To be sure, I had violated my own principles that Christmas week which likely contributed to the problem. First, I had gotten caught up in the busyness of the week and I had been neglecting my time with the Lord in prayer and in scripture reading. Secondly, I did not allow the word to judge the thoughts and attitudes of my heart. I allowed my own self-pity to rise up and drown out the word of God that dwells in me. I neglected to stop, align my thoughts with God's word, confess my sin and pray "Dear Lord, I am cooking and cleaning for you, to please you, that others might be blessed in your name and experience a comfort and hospitality in my home that comes from you."
To help uncover your hidden attitudes and motivations when it comes to serving your family, here are a few key questions to ask yourself:
Asking ourselves the hard questions from time to time keeps us on track and helps to uncover the source of any ungodly motivations running rampant in our lives. All too often we are looking for a pat on the back or personal recognition. We may want to be the center of attention or be known as the super-mom or super-dad. It is true that sometimes within the family unit we are less likely to receive recognition and praise for our good deeds. But Jesus told us that a good servant does not look for recognition (Luke 17:7-10). Not being aware of our motivations can result in misplaced motivation for service: eager to serve in the church where we get recognized, while our own family needs are being neglected.
When was the last time that you did something for your spouse, your brother or your sister, your mother or your father with no ulterior motive other than to simply bless them or to "put a bright spot in their day" as my mother says? Little children do this so well. They are always so eager to give little gifts, to spontaneously give a hug or a kiss or to pick a bouquet of wild flowers for someone they love. The Bible teaches us a very pro-active approach to relationships. For example the burden of responsibility is always on me to demonstrate a Christ like attitude towards others no matter how I have been treated or not treated.
The Lord requires the same thing from us no matter what the setting or the situation. It does not matter whether we are interacting with our family, or the church, or people in the world. The Lord requires that we act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with Him (Micah 6:8). We are to be ministers of God's goodness, righteousness, kindness, love, service and generosity. And, though we are to seek perfection in these areas because it is akin to holiness, for human beings who will never attain perfection and who will always be frustrated by the lack of it, the last part of Micah 6:8 is critical to remember. God calls us to walk humbly before Him. That means we are to acknowledge, especially to our families, our shortcomings, our mistakes and our failures; and that we are to continually depend upon our Lord's generous apportionment of grace to keep us walking in lockstep with Him. Let us today reconsider "How Shall we Live" within our families and commit anew to demonstrate to them the love and humility of Christ.
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Copyright © 2001 Alan and Jean LeStourgeon
