Saturday, April 27, 2013

When God Uses People

Recently I've been reading the Old Testament, starting with Genesis, and currently in Job. Dare I say it? Parts of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and 1 Chronicles are very repetitive: very detailed descriptions of the tabernacle, furniture, priestly clothing, sacrifices and the temple; lists of people and their positions. I have to admit it, I skimmed over those chapters this time. But the excruciating details and lists of obscure people communicate some important things.

First, the God who created everything "good" should be served with our best skills, with our full attention and With our complete respect. Second, while many of the people in the lists are obscure, unknown, to us God knew them and recognized them by mentioning what they did in His word. God won't be listing us in the Bible, but He does know us and He does know what we do. God cares about even us "nobodies"!


On another tack, encouraging and sobering, God uses those who are available to Him, flaws and all. It's comforting, because I'm certainly a very flawed person! It's sobering, because God even used some REALLY flawed people. Being used by God is no "badge" of goodness or spiritual maturity; it is, however, a "badge" of God's grace.


One of the very detailed lists of people and functions/positions is in 1 Chronicles 21. What stood our for me, though, was that this was a reorganization of people done by David in preparation for the building of the temple (which would be done by his son, Solomon). Similarly, I believe, God will prepare His people before He does significant things!

Monday, April 8, 2013

Serving God & Proper Perspective

Remember that God does not need us to do His work. Being the One Who created the universe, God is quite powerful enough. He chooses to bless us by working through us. When God works through us, the power, the wisdom, the fruit are His doing. When God accomplishes something through us, we need to remember that we may not have been His Plan A or B (or ZZ!).

Monday, April 1, 2013

Of Moral Slippery Slopes

It's better not to jump onto a moral slippery slope than it is to struggle to crawl off. Struggling and managing to crawl off is, of course, better than riding the slope all the way down.