Spring Break Devo 4 - April 9th

:::: Read Ephesians 4 ::::

Being a little brother is so hard... well, when you’re little it is. As my brother and I have gotten older, it’s not hard at all. When I was about seven or eight years old, my brother (who is ten years older than me) had some friends over. I always wanted to be a part of what he was doing, but you can imagine that with ten years difference between us, it wasn’t that easy. I wasn’t the almost there and tolerable ‘younger brother.’ I was the insufferable and always in your face ‘little brother.’ On this particular day, he and his friends were in his room playing cards and I walked past to my room. Then, he actually called me into his room. I couldn’t believe it; I was getting to go into his room.

“Hey, Brent, you want to play a game with us?” Oh, man, here was my chance. I didn’t want to mess this up so I was playing cool and tried to be calm and just nodded my head, yes. He replied, “Ok, it’s called 52 pickup.” It was then that he picked up the deck of cards, bent them between his thumb and index finger, pulled back on them, faced them to the ceiling and released a fluttering fountain of playing cards all over the room. He and his friends snickered and laughed, stood up and began to walk out of the room and he said, “Now, pick them up.”

Now I don’t hold that against my brother, but I remember it when I think about this piece of scripture. Ephesians 4 is one of the most important pieces of scripture in the Bible. It talks about the inclusion of you and me into the Body of Christ. It talks about what it means to be part of what God is doing in and around us. Ephesians 4:11 talks about the ministry, and its parts: Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastor and Teachers. Which one are you? Are you some who starts new things and can lead people, are you someone who speaks truth and life into people (prophet), are you excited and engaging with people who need to hear the gospel (evangelist), do you love to take care of people and help them learn to be what God has called them to be (pastor and teacher). You see we are all part of God’s ministry. Not just professional people who work for the church. We’re just here to make sure that there’s some kind of structure to help you become who God’s called you to be. So, which one are you?

You know, what’s great about God is that he’s given us all of these roles to play, but he doesn’t spit the card into the air and walk out of the room. He’s given us his Holy Spirit to help us and train us. He hasn’t left us alone to pick up all the cards. So, may you be who God called you to be and do what God has called you to do. It’s who he made you to be and he’s the best Dad and the best big-bro we could ever have.

Have a great Thursday! God loves you and so do I.
-brent