I just realized how to move ahead to the bigger and better things of God. Wanna come with?
In my small group Bible study, we’ve been studying some of the letters from Paul to the churches that he established. Most of them have included many do’s and don’ts and “stop this, but start this” kind of charges. It must have been frustrating to spend the time, as he did with new church plants, sharing everything he knew about Jesus and seeing them receive the free gift of salvation to only become confused and misled shortly after his departure. This is where a letter from Paul would come in.
I believe Paul was the first remote leader.
One thing in the workplace that has grown during the pandemic, is the number of people doing their job remotely from their home. While many employees love this arrangement, the jury is still out at “the top.” Google corporation had been a pioneer in the remote worker concept years ago, but by 2019, they had called many workers back into the office. It’s just too easy for people to become disconnected from company goals without consistent contact to the source. This was Paul’s problem. He was out of sight, and that allowed others to stir up confusion.
I can somewhat relate, as I spent some time over the last few years, leading several facilities simultaneously across the US from the Human Resources function. I would roll out an initiative, give instruction on the initiative, train on the initiative, follow up on the initiative and at the end there would still be a multitude of various unauthorized deviations. Believe me, I wanted to pull my hair out more than once. So, in a scenario where eternal life was at stake, you can imagine how Paul felt.
It was a pleasant surprise to turn the page this week to the first letter to Thessalonica where Paul only has praise for that new thriving church. I am amused that from habit, he covered everything they should be doing just like in his other letters, but because this church was on pace, he ended it with an exhortation to “do this more and more!”
After these couple of chapters of praise, Paul begins to spell out the order and process of the second coming of Christ to these believers. Without going into all those details, what really stood out to me about this was this:
When you are living in obedience to God, you get to learn more about the bigger and better things of God.
That’s my take-away.
Same thing in my profession; when I’ve worked for stable companies that aren’t experiencing ongoing turnover and safety issues, I get to focus on the bigger and better things of HR – like career development and succession planning, etc. If we stay tripped up, we can’t move forward.
As I study Paul’s letter, it makes me even more dedicated to refining my walk and staying in step with God’s Spirit so I can learn more about the bigger and better things He has in store for me. What about you?
This is my setup this week in my structured prayer journal. This is where I record the bigger and better things of God. If you are interested in getting a copy of my award-winning book, Organizing Your Prayer Closet (Abingdon Press) so, you too, can enjoy the gift of structured prayer journaling, you can click on my affiliate link below in the About Gina section. If you make a purchase from this link, I will be paid a small percentage of what you pay for the purchase of my book. Thank you!
