Personal, Or Professional Problem?

"But a messenger came to Saul, saying, "Hurry and come, for the Philistines have invaded the land!" 
Therefore Saul returned from pursuing David, and went against the Philistines; so they called the place the Rock of Escape."
1 Samuel 23:27-28 (NKJV)

There is a difference between business and pleasure, personal and professional things.  It can be that a person's business, their profession, is something they thoroughly enjoy, but there is still a business aspect to their work that does not allow things to become just an entirely personal activity.  But, if someone loses sight of the professional side of their life because of a personal issue with someone else, or a personal problem of their own, that can take away from the effectiveness they should have in their profession.

As believers, our main focus should be on our relationship with God and spiritual growth, which enables us to be an effective part of the Body of Christ.  It is vitally important for us to find the purpose God has for us, and understand the plan He has for us to fulfill that purpose.  But we have an enemy, the devil, who will do everything he can to hinder us from understanding God's plan and fulfilling it.  The devil will try and keep us ignorant of what God has planned for us, and if this fails, the devil's secondary plan is often to create personal problems to distract us.  

Saul was the first king of Israel, but he had some problems.  Saul became jealous of David, which clouded Saul's judgment, causing him to lose his focus on God's plan for his life.  In 1 Samuel 23, while Saul was pursuing David, focusing on this personal issue, the kingdom was in peril as the Philistines invaded the land.  The same thing can happen today if we allow personality issues, jealousy, or something another person has done to distract us from doing what God has called us to do.  We need to keep our focus on God's plan, and not allow personal issues to get in the way of our doing the will of God.

Given To Me, For You

"For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles - 
if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you,"
Ephesians 3:1-2 (NKJV)

One of the first jobs I ever had was delivering auto parts for an auto parts store.  Different places would call our store to order various parts that they needed to work on cars.  Then I would get those parts from our inventory and deliver them.  My job was not just to get the parts that someone else needed and keep them for myself, those auto parts were needed by other people to be able to do the work they were involved in.  The only reason I had the parts was to give them to someone else, not to keep them for myself.

The Bible shows us that Christians make up the Body of Christ, and that each part of the Body has something to supply that contributes to the overall operation of the Body.  All the parts of the Body of Christ are connected and have to work together.  God gives each of us a grace, a gift, that we need to use to supply something to the Body.  As each part gives what it has to supply, the entire Body benefits, and if some part of the Body of Christ would somehow withhold what it should supply, there would be a problem in the Body.  

In Ephesians 3, Paul talked about how God had given him grace, a gift, and that God had actually given it to him for the benefit of the people of Ephesus.  In the same way, God gives each of us a grace gift.  One of the goals in our life is to discover and develop the grace, the gift, the ability, that God has given us.  We need to not only recognize the gift that God has given us, but we must also understand that what we have been given, was given to us for others.  The grace, the gift, the ability, that God gives us is meant to be used to help other people and not just kept to ourselves.

Where Is Your Focus?

"Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin.  But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied."
1 Samuel 17:45 (NKJV)

What you focus on and what has your attention is very important.  You might be driving a car, but if your focus is on something other than the road, you can have a serious problem.  You might have a deadline for a project to be done where you work, but if you are focused on planning your vacation instead of working on the project, you will likely have trouble.  It could be that what we are paying attention to is really not the most important thing, so we need to be sure we understand what is important and focus on that.

For the Christian, spiritual realities are more important than our natural reality.  This does not mean that our natural situation does not exist, or that it is not something we should be aware of, but the spiritual side of our situation is what we need to be focused on.  In our life, generally speaking, and in specific situations, we need to look past the natural reality and focus on the spiritual side of things; we need to know what God and His Word have to say about our situation, and we need to put our attention on that.

One of the things we can learn from the story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17, is that David was victorious because he focused on the spiritual side of things, while everyone else was focused on the natural side.  David recognized that Goliath was defying and fighting against God, but Saul and the army were looking at Goliath's size and listening to what he said, rather than focusing on God and what He said.  David succeeded because he looked past the natural situation and focused on the spiritual side of things.  God is on our side, and no matter how big the "giant" that we face is, by focusing on God and His Word, we will win.

Give Or Get?

"Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom.  For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."
Luke 6:38 (NKJV)

Christmas is a favorite time of year for most people, because that is when they receive gifts.  But, while everyone likes to receive something, not everyone is quite as excited about giving something.  Most people do not get excited about Christmas because it is an opportunity to give something, but it is all about getting something.  There is a biblical principle here however, that is seen in the natural world, that to get you first have to give.  Getting something is great but giving something is actually a key to getting something.

The principle of sowing and reaping, giving and receiving, is seen throughout the Bible.  Unfortunately, many people have reduced this to just a monetary situation where someone talks about giving money in an offering, or helping someone by making a donation for some cause, and this has sometimes clouded the true nature of this principle.  What most people do not understand is that the principle of sowing and reaping, giving and receiving dominates much of our life, often without our realizing it.

In Luke 6:38, Jesus talked about giving and receiving, and while He was not specifically talking about money, this principle does work with material things.  Too often we only think about what we can get, without looking at what we can give.  What if everyone in a church, family, relationship, or on a job, looked for ways to give and help others instead of just getting something?  What would happen is that these situations would improve and everyone would reap benefits.  If we really want to be blessed and have what we need, we should first focus on giving, not getting.

Who Are You?

"Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God."
Romans 1:1 (NKJV)

We all have various forms of identification.  We might have a passport, a driver's license, a library card, or even a membership card to some store or organization.  When you go to different places, you need a valid form of identification.  For example, when I travel to different nations, I cannot show them my library card, which is not a valid form of identification outside of the library.  Although I may really like my local library, my library card is not my main form of identification, it is a secondary form of identification.

Knowing who we are is very important, and who we are is more important than what we do, especially as Christians.  The first and most important way we need to identify ourselves is in our relationship with God, not what we do for God.  To be someone that fulfills the calling of God and is a help to other people, we need to first develop in our relationship with God.  People can have problems if they focus more on what they do for God than they do on maintaining a strong relationship with Him, because doing what God has called us to do starts with our relationship with Him.

In the letter to the Christians in Rome, Paul first identified himself as a "bondservant" of Jesus Christ.  Then, after that, he talked about what he had been called to do.  Paul correctly identified himself first of all based on his relationship with God, not on what God had called him to do, his ministry work.  Just like Paul, we need to put our identity in Christ first.  What we are called to do is not as important as who called us to do it.  We are first of all children of God, then servants of God.  That is where it starts, and what we do for God grows from that.