August 27 - Ephesians 3: It's All the Same

As I typed the date for today's post, my heart sank. It's the day I've been dreading for 3 months, the day I've avoided thinking about - the day my girls go back to school and our flow of life ratchets up and they leave behind another year of childhood. To me, it feels like a big day, but God reminds me that in the flow of eternity it's the same as other days. In the daily call on my life, it's the same. In the purpose and task that God has given for my life, it's the same as every day before and after today.

... same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board.

This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities. 

My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along.  (3:6-10)

In the midst of changing life seasons, there's a comfort in this sameness of work and task. Everyday, regardless of the fullness or spaciousness of my schedule, my task is the same - to help people understand and respond to Gospel living. Every moment, whether mundane or extraordinary, my work is to bring out in the open what God is doing. In the flow of my life, in the circles of people God has placed around me, "in the middle of the inevitable ongoingness" (Crabb).

The most beautiful part is that it is all within Christ Jesus (v. 6) - the pressure's off! God's handling all the details. He's done the equipping and it has nothing to do with my natural abilities. I can quit figuring out how to use my strengths or making decisions based on them or relying on my competencies.

I can live to complete Christ, not striving for Him to complete me. He's already done that.