Words Of Encouragement For Your Day (Monday 05/21/2012)

The Ministry Of Participation and Companionship

1 Corinthians 1:9-10 Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁹ God is faithful (reliable, trustworthy, and therefore ever true to His promise, and He can be depended on); by Him you were called into companionship and participation with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.¹⁰ But I urge and entreat you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in perfect harmony and full agreement in what you say, and that there be no dissensions or factions or divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in your common understanding and in your opinions and judgments.

My father and mother both were and are BIG on family.  They taught us to be there for one another, and in spite of how we may feel or what our differences are that we are still family and that we should act and operate like it.  They believed in helping and being a part of one another’s lives; my mother still to this day carries on this legacy.  But as we well know that people will be people and not all of the time will individuals even in families see the importance of being a participant and a reliable companion.  Because we often will allow flesh, and the motivation of the sin nature in which we were born into to overtake us and have rule in our lives we will often be absorbed in what we want verses what others may need or what will benefit and cause the whole to be healthy and complete.  We seek to be served instead of serving.

There are so many people that do not have parents that will teach them the value of togetherness, family and connectivity.  Instead we are often finding ourselves being taught judgment, discord and self-preservation; not in a healthy way either we are teaching the kill or be killed concept.  We are teaching our children that relationships are disposable and we should be uncaring, inconsiderate, and to evaluate people upon what they can do for us, or how much they have.  Many times because we are looking at people that are different from us, and they do not approach things based upon our scope of reference we will discount them, dismiss them and destroy them because of their differences.  There are people that instead of being openly dismissive, they will say they support or in covenant with others, but instead will not follow through because of our inability to see the value in another’s life or purpose.  Is this because we have not yet begun to surrender our thinking, process of evaluation and mind sets to God?  This is probably so.  We judge people and value individuals based upon our small vantage point and our biases, fears, standards and system of misbeliefs.  We have learned to place value on what people have rather than who they are.  We look to education, money, power, influence and careers rather than the content of an individual; and their relationship and connection with God.

Our relationship with God will dictate our relationship and responses to people. I am not saying or implying that we are to become a doormat or pushover, but we will begin to see with new eyes.  We will learn to assess people based upon so much more than our limited scope of reference if we abide in Christ.  We will see that sowing into people, as God leads will reap us a harvest that no man can affect or provide.  We will begin to understand that treating people and abiding with people should be based upon how we desire God to treat us and how we desire to be treated.  We should understand that we should allow God to help us and lead us in our relationships to begin with so that we are walking in agreement with God and that we can operate in the ministry of companionship and participation as God would desire of us and we would want to be bestowed upon us.  Many things we miss the value in companionship and participation because we do not look at in the terms in which it really is, which is that it is a ministry gift that is entrusted to us, to help and assist others. We all too often look at life from the perspective that it is ours to live alone and that it is all about us only, instead of seeing that our life is to support and contribute to the lives of others.  Let the Spirit of God and the mind of Christ be your guide as it concerns your participation and companionship and support of those God may entrust in your life!