Growth

For Others’ Sake

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles – Ephesians 3:1

It’s not easy to give up what is rightly ours for the sake of others. It’s even less easy when we can rightly determine that “they don’t deserve it.” It’s human nature, perhaps, to cling to our privileges and prerogatives because they lead us to the mistaken impression that somehow we are important. We want to mark our territory, draw our lines, and dare anyone to try and cross them.

In Ephesians, though, Paul shows us a different way. Paul gave up status and prestige that were rightfully his because of Christ’s work on the cross. Paul, the Jew among Jews and the Roman citizen, became a traveling missionary, ostracized from the people who once esteemed him, making tents (rather than teaching) for a living, all for the sake of a people that he once believed were unworthy of salvation. He followed the example of Christ in becoming “nothing” at least in the world’s eyes, so that he could demonstrate the love of Christ to people who were lost. 

For many of us the story is so familiar that it’s power has become dim, but let’s not let it. Instead, let us recognize all that Paul had, all he gave up, and the reasons that he did so. Paul realized that his life was sacrificed to Christ and that Christ desired to do a work for others through him.  Paul was “Christ’s prisoners” so that through his service, the Gentiles may come to know Christ.

Whose life does God want you to impact through your service to Him today?



Question: What have you been willing to give up in order that others may know Christ?

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Growth Relationships

One Mind

Reading through the book of Ephesians, one quickly realizes that Paul has an inspired concern for the Ephesus church; namely that the Church reflect the unity that is proper for the body of Christ. After all, it is rare that the parts of an individual’s body act out of concert with one another and when they do, it’s time to call in Dr. House and his famed diagnostic team. Individually, our bodies were designed so that our feet, our hands, our heart and our mind would all be working toward a common goal, whether that goal is to digest food, or climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.

In the case of the body of Christ, the same thing is true and in Ephesians 2:6-7, Paul demonstrates what this goal should be.  All believers should be actively demonstrating the abundance of Christ’s grace.  In saving us, God desires to use our lives to draw others to Him.  Whether we are interacting with family or interacting with strangers, whether we are alone or in a crowd, our lives should be a constant reflection of God’s grace to us, because we are constantly reflecting on His kindness expressed in grace. Demonstrating the abundance of His riches towards us is the singular goal of our lives, not to proclaim our own worth, but in acknowledging our unworthiness, to proclaim the magnitude of His kindness. In recognizing that our lives our worthless apart from His grace, we display the costly and incomparable sacrifice of His life.  God choose us to be a demonstration of His kindness and grace not by merely being kind and gracious to others, but by telling of His kindness and grace to us.

May we keep this focus in mind. And may this be the common focus of all Christians’ lives.

How do you keep your focus on reflecting Christ? 

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