Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Emma's Entrees "Can I Help?"

(Over the years, I've written a number of messages that involve our grandson Jackson and granddaughter Emma.  I'll have to start doing that with Ewan and Evelyn also, the new kids on the block.  Here's another one about Emma, under her title "Emma's Entrees").

     Emma's Entrees   

"Can I Help?"

     Whenever Emma comes to our house, she immediately asks her grandmother and me one question: "Can I help with anything?" (Jackson is very good about this also).   She continues to ask that question throughout her stays with us, and she very clearly means that she wants to be of service.  This always reminds me of the prophet Isaiah:


   "I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?  Then said I, Here am I; send me" (Isaiah 6:8).

   It has been said that our greatest ability is availability.  Born again believers come to the Throne of grace to offer ourselves to our Heavenly Father for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and the blessing of others.  We seek to serve as the willing conduits of God's help.  Much of His availability to people flows through us as we devote ourselves to Him.  Our calling involves the awareness and attitude that "the love of Christ is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us" (Romans 5:5).  Through Him, we exist to love God and others, and to reflect our Savior's character and nature: "the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28).  "Send me" implies that we overcome the temptation to self centeredness by devoting ourselves to the purposes of God and the needs of others.  Emma's offer to serve reflects the beautiful expression of Christ's love, and blesses me as she seeks to be of help.

   We can live this day with focus on our own interests and needs.  The love of Christ dwelling in believers does not force us to "walk in love," nor does it guarantee that we will (Ephesians 5:2).  We must rather consciously and consistently present ourselves to our Heavenly Father for His loving purposes to be fulfilled in our lives.  Just as Emma approaches Frances and myself when she visits, we do well to approach the Throne of grace.  The ability of availability - our grace-given capacity to willingly devote ourselves to God and others - results in many opportunities to self sacrificially love through the leadership and enabling of the Holy Spirit.  This day offers such possibility.  The prophet Isaiah and my granddaughter Emma remind me of such glory, and I will seek to join them at the Throne where love begins, and from which it proceeds.  "Here am I, send me… Can I do anything to help?"

"Yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."
(Romans 6:13)

Weekly Memory Verse
     If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
(Galatians 5:25)
   


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