Considerations

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
 (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

In the majority of the New Testament books, the very first verse provides the author of the book and their status of being a servant of Jesus Christ:

"Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God..." (Romans 1:1)

If I was to follow the example of the apostles in their letters to the Believers, each post in this Considerations’ blog would start out like this:

Sheree, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be a messenger of the Gospel and encouragement to fellow Believers.

Considerations was born from the God-given desire to encourage the body of Christ to use the word of God, the Bible, as their foundational written source for righteous holy living and not regard it as just another good option on the bookshelf or an app on a device. The name of the site is derived from the hope for believers to consider the living active word of God which ‘is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives… to correct us when we are wrong and teach us to do what is right… to prepare and equip us to do every good work.’ (2 Timothy 3:16-17). 

Questions to Consider

• As Believers, are we using the holy scriptures to teach us and correct us?
• Are we allowing the word of God to shape our lives?
• Are we considering what the word of God says in matters pertaining to the choices we make?
• Do we seek the word to determine if our decisions are aligned with what God says?
• Or are we occasionally in the word of God, winging it through life relying on our own intellect and other worldly sources?
• And if the word of God is the tool God has provided ‘ to prepare and equip us for His work’, just how ready would we be for any work we are called to?

Questions such as these are used in Considerations’ posts to allow for each of us to self-reflect on where we are in our own personal Christian walks. Considerations is NOT about giving you answers but allowing a space to consider what God’s word says and consider how it is being fleshed out in one’s own life.

Being Equipped to Serve

In the last blog post, Do You Know What God Has Called You To?, we looked at the lives of Paul the Apostle and Mahalia Jackson, the Gospel singer. They both knew their calling and then shaped their lives around it to serve the Lord in what He had called them to do. The post also shared how God has a role for each Believer to play in this world. For me, I have felt the Lord’s call to share the Gospel and encourage Believers through writing. It has been quite a journey so far as I humbly serve the Lord in this role. I don’t always get it right especially when I’ve not given the word of God a place of priority in my life and have not allowed it to get me in shape to be fit to serve in the work God has called me to.

Just as He has graciously given me a role to play, God has a role that He wants to prepare and equip you for. Part of the equipping process includes being in His word, considering what it says and aligning your life with it. We are to be His ambassadors, encouraging others on His behalf to be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20). How can we represent God if we don’t know His word and don’t allow it to shape us to be useful servants in His kingdom? 

We all hope that our doctors are well equipped and prepared for their role as our medical advisors, through years of continuous study to keep them fresh and updated on how to guide us to be physically healthy. Should we not be even more concerned about the spiritual health of ourselves and others, which has eternal ramifications? Should we not do all that we can to keep ourselves spiritually fit to remain viable and active ambassadors who ‘do our best to present ourselves to God as ones approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth?’ (2 Timothy 2:15)

It is my hope that each post in this blog helps us take a moment to consider what God’s word says and to apply it to our lives so that we may faithfully walk as servants of Jesus Christ; prepared and equipped for the personal work He has called each of us to.