MEANINGLESS MATTER!
Sunday’s Monday
I have heard this said one hundred different ways for one hundred different situations, but the truth is, does it really matter? I have to ask myself a lot, “Is” what I’m saying relevant and interesting to others? My dad used to say I could talk to a doorpost if I felt it would prove my point. I love to talk because I love people, but I want to be careful not to talk randomly about meaningless subjects that honestly wouldn’t matter or profit the person or persons I’m speaking with. I have to be sensitive to the fact that I (even with my limited education) can talk over people's heads as well as speak words or phrases that some people have never heard of. Because of the learning value, I like to sit in meetings of all types, and it breaks my heart to see people with that dear-in-the-headlights look or watch them become so bored that they are suffering to get through it. These people have just witnessed several hours of (what they feared) empty feelings and wasted time. We are told in Ephesians 4:29 (ESV), Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Meaningless matter means exactly what it says, the content is meaningless to the receiver ergo its content doesn’t matter. Example: I’m talking to a recovering alcoholic on how to make the perfect beer. Respectfully, the subject is counterintuitive to helping the receiver escape the grip of alcoholism. Example: A high school dropout goes to lunch with a rocket scientist and once it’s over the dropout walks away clueless and unchanged. Talk becomes a meaningless matter because the time spent has no meaning to the receiver, ergo, none of it matters. As Christians, parents, neighbors, and friends we have lost the ability to recognize where our receivers are at. We have lost or never had the ability to remember what we felt like before we surrendered all to Jesus. Being able to understand where they are, we are granted the opportunity to display our heartfelt ability to step into their situation and help educate and simplify what will be required for their journey. By using a vocabulary that they understand we can explain their options, alternatives, and expected end results. As we find in Ephesians 4:25 (ESV), Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
Inevitably, we will feel we have done well, if for no other reason than because we did it. But the receiver may still be confused because of the way we presented what we had to say. A prime example is a spiritual person talking to a person who has little knowledge of Jesus or the church. All the scripture references that are used might as well be spoken in tongue as the receiver has nothing to reference it to, even when it’s explained it is still a foreign concept. We “very much” need to ask God to merge our hearts and minds to understand how the receiver thinks, feels, and dreams, in many cases, the dreams aren’t there. The situations and people will never be the same yet very similar in many ways. We as helpers should always be seeking to gain a level of trust with the receiver to which brutal honesty will be required, plus a lifestyle that exemplifies everything we’ve explained to the receiver. It is crucial that we understand as a helper, the receiver will usually “only” expend the same level of energy pursuing Jesus as the helper does. Again, in Ephesians 4:18 (ESV), They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. So, what we must do is found in Ephesians 4:15 (ESV), Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.
Abba, help each of us to remember the before you and rejoice in your glory after being saved. You took us mess and all and cleaned us up with your blood, forgave us of all sin, and accepted us into your loving family. Teach us to live Ephesians 4:22-24 (ESV), 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Lord, I believe that doing this daily will soften the heart, sink the mind, and change lives. Please, Father, help us to help those who seek help, for we know that you take the healed and make healers from them. We love you Lord and pray to do our part of bringing heaven to earth. Amen
HAVE A BLESSED WEEK BY BEING A BLESSING TO OTHERS!
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