Hope, Joy and Crown

Hope, Joy and Crown

1 Thessalonians 2:19-20
For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? 20Indeed, you are our glory and joy.

When we selflessly plant ourselves into other people’s lives what is our gain if they can’t reward us and we see no earthly or monetary benefit? What do we hope to see in our children through the years of raising them, nurturing, teaching and mentoring them? It is not for what they can pay us back in material gain that we do it. It is a labor of love and the harvest we long to see, that we continue to pray for, hope for and believe for are lives that are healthy, productive and that produce a legacy. A parent’s greatest reward is to have children that love and respect them, but also that hold to the values of faith that were instilled in them and that they in turn instill those same values in their children. We long to see a perpetual legacy of generations that follow on to know and obey the Lord.
The churches that the apostle Paul established were his children. He taught them, mentored them and raised them up in the faith and knowledge of Christ. It wasn’t a job for him; it was his life, his purpose and his joy. When he stood before the Lord there was no greater testimony to his faithfulness and his greatness as a servant of God than those that he had raised up in Christ. He was able to stand with the Lord and look through the generations at the harvest he had been instrumental in producing in the earth. This stood as Paul’s greatest, hope, joy and crown. This was his greatest reward.
Our greatest reward in heaven won’t be about our businesses, our finances or our status in the community; it will be about what we planted in others. It will be about what we sowed into their lives through our faithful commitment and walk with Christ. We want to see it in our children and our grandchildren. We want to see it in the ones that we helped disciple and bring to Christ. Nothing breaks our heart more than to see what we have treasured and nurtured stolen and destroyed by sin. It is for this reason that our Lord Jesus ever stands as our high priest making intercession on our behalf. He too, longs after us to be His hope, joy and crown.
Let us not grow weary or complacent concerning the awesome responsibility that we have toward those who under our spiritual authority or influence. We must remember that we are the priests of our home and have the responsibility to pray, intercede, teach and persuade our families in the ways of righteousness and salvation. Be faithful to the gift, the calling and instrument that God has created you to be. How we respond and use what He has created us to be and how that translates into the lives of others will be our hope, our joy and crown. Our legacy is our glory and our joy.

Blessings,
#kent

A Few Thoughts on Discipleship

John 13:15-17 “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.16“Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.17“If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” A Few Thoughts on Discipleship The branch can only bear fruit in the vine. The vessel can only pour out as it is filled up. A pen can only write upon the tablets of men’s heart as the love and Spirit of God instruct it. A follower follows. A believer believes, but a disciple follows, believes and gives their life for the One they follow. They live as the Master lives. The love as the Master loves. They forgive as the Master forgives and they do as the Master does. Their heartbeat and passion are one with His. They don’t live separate lives, but rather they live in the shadow and the light of the One who leads them. The disciple and the Master through their relationship become one. Their purpose becomes one and their destiny is charted on the same course. Where the Master has laid down His life the disciple will willingly follow because their life is no longer their own, but they willing give it up to the One they follow. If they lay down their life, then they know that the Master will raise it up again, even as the Father raised up His life He laid down. Even as the Master follows and does as the Father does, so the disciple follows the Master and does what He see and hears the Master do. He is not greater than the Master, but becomes empowered by the Master because their lives become one. The disciple and the Master walk in Spirit, unified in heart and synchronized in purpose. The disciples become the body of the Master to bring His dwelling in man and His kingdom into the earth. The disciple’s life is to manifest in His life all that He gained through that relationship with the Master. The discipline can sometimes be harsh and the blessing are often great, but the greatest treasure is for the life of the Master to glorified in and through the disciple. Blessings, kent