Dearly Beloved Children Servants Double Your Paycheck

Dearly Beloved Children

Servants Double Your Paycheck

Today’s devotional tells you how

to double your pay check!

Doing the same work

and having a smile.

Jesus clearly taught us to be servants.

Jesus measures greatness by how well we serve.

Servanthood is a key message throughout the Bible.

The character and reward of the servant

are probably laid out more clearly in Ephesians 6:5-9

than any other place in the Bible.

Servants are to respectfully obey.

Always do a better job than what you are asked to do.

Have a good heart attitude.

Communicate your joy to help

by keeping a smile on your face.

The key - is what is behind your motive.

We all have a motive for what we do.

Our motive is clear.

All we do should be done to please the Lord.

Our real master is Christ.

His bank account and benefits cannot be exhausted.

So no matter who you are working for,

God will see to it that you receive

good pay for a good job. 

I, like you, have not always got

a sign of appreciation from my employers.

But the feeling I got,

 knowing God was pleased with my work,

helped me sleep well at night.

It is also nice to know that when

you deposit your Friday paycheck,

you have also deposited one

in your heavenly account.

As dearly beloved children,

we get double time for our labor.

Scripture Reading

Ephesians 6:5-9 The Message

5 Servants, respectfully obey your earthly masters

but always with an eye to obeying the real master, Christ.

6 Don't just do what you have to do to get by,

but work heartily,

as Christ's servants doing what God wants you to do.

7 And work with a smile on your face,

always keeping in mind that no matter

who happens to be giving the orders,

you're really serving God.

8 Good work will get you good pay from the Master,

regardless of whether you are slave or free.

9 Masters, it's the same with you.

No abuse, please, and no threats.

You and your servants are both

under the same Master in heaven.

He makes no distinction between you and them.

(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)

Dearly Beloved Children Warning to Dad

Dearly Beloved Children

Warning to Dad

Have you ever seen this face on your child?

Maybe they are exasperated!

I think the NIV’s choice of words has a funny side to it.

“Fathers do not exasperate your children.”

Ephesians 4:6 NIV

The word exasperate means:

 to disturb the peace of mind of (someone)

especially by repeated disagreeable acts to make very angry.

This is what small children do to their parents

when they ask endless questions about

‘why is this’ or ‘what is that’.

I think all of us dads can get the picture.

Our children can also get exasperated

or be provoked to anger.

Yes, the father is to be the head of the family

but a position never made a person perfect.

In fact, a position many times reveals our weaknesses.

We, as dads, cannot let our responsibility

get under our skin in a way

that we get under our children’s skin.

We need to be careful we do not use our authority

to push our children over the edge of rebellion.

We, as dads, need to make sure

we follow through on what we say…

holding ourselves accountable.

Yes, we can intentionally or unintentionally

exasperate our children.

I have done it when they were very little

and now that they are adults.. 

there are times I see they are getting exasperated

and I can’t understand why.

So I have found I needed to let my children know

my position and authority is not something

I want to use against them, but for them.

This usually means greater communication

in an atmosphere of love.

But out of all these things I have mentioned

that provoke our children,

there is one I am most guilty of…

It is taking too long to make a decision!

Many times my children want things

faster than I can properly digest the issue.

So always working on the area of trust

helps my children be patience with me.   

Thanks Sarah, Julie and Marty for understanding

your dad is trying to live up to

this amazing position of being your dad.

Our position of fatherhood is not to get our children

to live life our way,

but to instruct them in God’s ways.

That will always bring about the best for them and us.

Scripture Reading

Ephesians 6:4 NIV

4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children;

instead, bring them up in the training

and instruction of the Lord.

Colossians 3:20-21 NIV

20 Children, obey your parents in everything,

for this pleases the Lord.

21 Fathers, do not embitter your children,

or they will become discouraged.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NIV

4 Hear, O Israel:

The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 

5 Love the LORD your God

with all your heart

and with all your soul

and with all your strength.

6 These commandments that I give you today

are to be upon your hearts.

7 Impress them on your children.

Talk about them when you sit at home

and when you walk along the road,

when you lie down

and when you get up.

8 Tie them as symbols on your hands

and bind them on your foreheads.

9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses

and on your gates.

Dearly Beloved Children Slaves and Masters

Dearly Beloved Children

Slaves and Masters

How much has Ephesians 6:5-9

effected the American work force?

Think of how much more these verses

can do for the place you work.

The American Civil War lasted from 1861 to 1865,

the Reconstruction era that followed completed the revolution,

smashing the 254 year old system of slavery in the American South.

I can hardly image being on one of the slave ships

and reading these words in Ephesians 6 verse 5:

“Slaves obey your masters”

The closest most of us can come

to understanding these verses

are thoughts of the work place.

In 1870, the “Nine-Hour Movement”,

labor disputes in Canada

resulted in a Trade Union Act,

which legalized and protected union activity in 1872.

The first parades lead to an annual celebration.

American labor leader Peter J. McGuire

witnessed one of these labor festivals in Toronto.

Inspired, he returned to New York

and organized the first American Labor Day,

on September 5, 1882.

Because slaves and masters, employees and bosses

have not treated each other with respect,

many people have suffered and died.

The working man’s holiday

has become the last holiday of the summer;

a time for the last get-a-way before school

or before the cold weather sets in.

Many of us, on the

first Monday in September,

never give a thought of the battles that took place

to make the work place a better place.

 Labor and management have not always

been in agreement.

I know what it is like to carry a picket sign;

and most of us remember, or have heard,

of violence on the picket lines.

Many would say

better wages and working conditions

were achieved by those battles.

But ask yourself the question…

“Where would we be today

if it wasn’t for the cool heads

that sat at the bargaining table?”

These are the people

you don’t always hear about.

As you and I enjoy this Labor Day,

think about those employees and bosses

who lived out Ephesians 6:5-9.

Think about where labor and management

would be without them.

Scripture Reading

Ephesians 6:5-9 NIV

5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear,

and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.

6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you,

but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.

7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men,

8 because you know that the Lord will reward everyone

for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.

9 And masters,

treat your slaves in the same way.

Do not threaten them,

since you know that he who is both

their Master and yours is in heaven,

and there is no favoritism with him.

Colossians 3:22-25 NIV

22 Slaves,

obey your earthly masters in everything;

and do it,

not only when their eye is on you

and to win their favor,

but with sincerity of heart

and reverence for the Lord.

23 Whatever you do,

work at it with all your heart,

as working for the Lord,

not for men,

24 since you know that you will

receive an inheritance

from the Lord as a reward.

It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

25 Anyone who does wrong

will be repaid for his wrong,

and there is no favoritism.

Colossians 4:1 NIV

4:1 Masters,

provide your slaves

with what is right and fair,

because you know that you

also have a Master in heaven.