In finishing up the book of Ephesians today, I questioned Paul's placement of his wisdom on marriage (the end of chapter five describes husband and wife relationships as a metaphor for how Christ and the church should be intertwined), parent and child, and then slave to master. Directly after delivering this message, he describes the armor of God and how it should be used by believers.
So I sat with this for a while, and as I did, I started to realize that our most challenging relationships in our lives are probably our marital relationship, our relationships with our children/parents, and the relationships we have with our superiors or those who work under us. Paul's description of bond-servant or slave to master can certainly be applied to our workplace relationships.
In sitting with the message this morning, another revelation occured to me - in each of these messages, he sets the stage for the topic by saying "just as you would obey Christ" or "in the Lord" or "out of reverence for Christ". In the VERY FIRST SENTENCE of each, Paul is reminding us that putting the Lord first will direct our steps and guide us in better relationships with one another.
Verses 10-20 in chapter six are my ultimate guide verses - my life verses right after Romans 5:8. If you can remember what these verses say, you can fight a serious war. In these verses, Paul describes each piece of God's armor, and his placement of these sentences was so pointed and clear after meditating on them and seeking wisdom.
I am dealing with some serious relationship trauma at the moment. I have endured the pain of laying firm boundaries, causing pain to people I never wanted to hurt because they cannot honor or respect those boundaries, and enduring horrid verbal, psychological, and emotional abuse because of it. Yesterday I was reciting the armor of God for the one millionth time, and I remembered I am not fighting against humans. They've become pawns in the enemy's beautifully-constructed plan to tear them and me down. It happens in marriages. It happens between parents and children. And I am the first to admit that it happened to me over and over and over again as a person in the workplace. And I lost EVERY SINGLE TIME.
But not this time, satan. Not this time. You can tear apart my family. You can cause trouble with my children. You can cause me to leave my job because I was convinced that every boss I had didn't know what they were doing. But I see what you're doing now. And I am putting on that armor and will fight FOR them with Jesus by my side. My choice to put Christ first before my husband, my children, my parents, my siblings, my grandchild, my employers - that is a conscious decision that I can see and feel has pissed off the enemy more than I am probably even aware. He has moved on to hacking away at other parts of my life, but I will not give up. I am putting on my Helmet of Salvation and my Belt of Truth. I'm tucking my feet into my shoes of the Gospel of Peace and putting on my Breastplate of Righteousness. With my Sword of the Spirit and my Shield of Faith, I'm ready for action.
Bring it on. Satan, you will not steal my joy and my peace by ripping at my family. You will not destroy me. And I pray constantly that my family and friends can feel my prayers reaching them - can feel the peace that God provides through faith. If only I could make them feel it for even five minutes so that they could understand why I have such big faith - they would understand the peace that surpasses all understanding and turn their face toward God. My Father. My protector. My provider. My peace.
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