Appreciating God

Ephesians 3:1

For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,

My brothers and sisters, it has been given to me as an apostle of Christ to teach those things that will bring us into the full stature of Jesus Christ. One lesson we must embrace to go further in God is that we are saved for someone else’s benefit. We have not been given life to hold it to ourselves. God has not saved us so that we would be counseled and pampered for the rest of our time on earth. We should be as the disciples of old; retrieving souls for the Kingdom.

Oftentimes, saints have the mindset that we are to be taught and nurtured all of the time but the example left in the scripture contradicts this mentality. Apostle Paul began his ministry immediately after his salvation. He had one conversation with Jesus and carried on Christ’s life to the death. Paul appreciated his salvation so much; he used every day of his life to the glory of God. His sole purpose all of the time was to reconcile souls to Christ. We have been given the same opportunity and ability as Apostle Paul. Our measures in the ministry of Christ may vary but we were all called to reconcile man unto God. The only difference between Christians like the Apostle Paul and those who never experience the totality of their salvation is appreciation, or the lack thereof, for God.

As children of God, we must appreciate Him and all He has done for us. Before salvation, we were dead in our trespasses and sin. We had no answers to the many questions we asked and saw no better life than the defeated one we lived until God came. Now that we have been made new, it is expected that we witness for Jesus Christ. We are meant to testify of the goodness, peace and righteousness that is in the life of Christ our Lord. Unfortunately, this is not the case with many in the Body. There are sons of God who have neglected their appreciation for God. They no longer appreciate His gift of life and where they were once so grateful that they would sacrifice all, there now arises the debate of whether they will even serve God. When a son looses their appreciation for God, they cannot be trusted by the Father.

God gave us a message some time ago which said, “The love for the Father is the might of the son.” If we do not love God for having saved us and cherish our relationship with Him, it is easy to dishonor Him. A good example is marriage. In marriage, as long as there is love and appreciation being shared between the husband and wife, the relationship can be strong. The wife is willing to do anything her husband asks and the same is true for the husband towards his wife. However, when there is no appreciation in the relationship, it is easy for the wife to refuse to cook when her husband is hungry or for the husband to cheat on his wife. The same is true in salvation. We began our salvation being so in love with the Father. He could ask us to serve in any capacity and we were willing. We began our salvation so appreciative for every time we faced death and God commanded that we be spared. We loved Him for having given us so much that we did not deserve. We thanked Him for all of the mercy He had shown us before and after salvation. The test of our faith is holding fast to that appreciation for the rest of our lives.