1 Peter 4:8-11. This passage smacked me in the head when I read it the other day. Here is what I read vs. what I thought:
8Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
How quick I am to prove I am right at the expense of others?
9Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
How often am I less than accommodating to my friends, family, and brothers and sisters in the faith?
10Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.
If I am not loving and being hospitable in the first place, then this command to administer God’s grace is incredibly difficult.
11If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
How do I speak and serve? Speak the very words of God. Serve through God’s strength. But how?
I can’t do any of these things apart from God’s grace and I prove it more than I’d like to admit. So how does one get it; the ability to speak and serve God in a Glorifying way. Here’s my conclusion. Read the Word and Pray. Simple huh? Read to get the words of God in your heart for words are the overflow of ones heart. Pray to petition for the strength to serve.
Now if someone could explain why its so easy on paper (or a blog for that matter) but difficult to master…
I am so there! I have noticed a difference in you lately – your willingness to help out, give me a break sometimes, genuine kindness in your words and attitude; in general, a more pleasant countenance. Know that I pray for you daily and am grateful for your desire to seek and do the will of God in your life and the life of our family.
Whoa, 11 is pretty heavy. I also think it’s about the attitude of serving and loving. Too many times I speak with an attitude of “see how smart I am” or with the intent to just get a laugh out of the group – not inhernently bad but often over done.
Why are we serving? Is it for power, prestige, or even to be a martyr? (We are still hungry for these things, if even in our own small cirlces.) Only God can give us the power to speak and serve with the right intentions of loving our neighbor to bring glory to God.