Two-Way Street


Romans 1:8-15
8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.
9For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you
10always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.
11For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—
12that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each others' faith, both yours and mine.
13I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.
14I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
15So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

One of the pitfalls of being in a “professional ministry” position is that one-way street of giving spiritual care. Now that I’ve typed that sentence my mind swirls with possible tactics for explaining that lifestyle and I’m certain that those of us who are paid as church workers (or married to one) are not the only ones who experience this situation. We constantly reach out with the Gospel. We constantly ask others how they are doing and then patiently listen as they pour out their cares and concerns. And you know what – we want to hear them! We really do care and we really do pray about those things. We are honored when people share their lives with us. But how often do we allow that care and concern to flow in the opposite direction; or how often are we even offered that same opportunity? Right here in the beginning of Romans Paul addresses that exact situation and through the power of the Holy Spirit he offers us a new way to look at that scenario.

First and foremost, Paul is always grateful to God for all that HE is doing in the faith lives of His people. Paul even takes an oath(!) regarding his own prayer life for other believers. He desperately wants to be with the Romans in person in order to impart spiritual gifts and strength to the people. Then suddenly he changes direction in verse 12. He wants to see a two-way street established here. He wants to see mutual encouragement; a path that goes both ways from Paul to the Romans and back again. He sees that as a real possibility and plans to pursue that goal. And thus we too are challenged in that direction as well.

I might suggest (and I do this with some trepidation) that we in the “profession” of ministry might want to examine our own motives for being reticent to receive spiritual care from others. It might even lie in the arena of pride. It’s okay for me to reach out to you and be the spiritual strength that brings encouragement and care; but if the care flows in the opposite direction I might blow that off as unnecessary. That, my friends, is pride in action. Paul seems to be inviting such care and will obviously embrace it if given. His humility here is pretty impressive. And as I read back over this I am aware that this post might only be about me and my own pride issues. (But I really don’t think so.) Again the Word turns us back to reality. We are all struggling humans who are in need of each other. No one person (except Jesus Christ) has everything we need. So no matter which side of this fence you stand on, reach across the rails to your brothers and sisters on the other side. Be both giver and receiver. If it was good enough for Paul, it’s good enough for us!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

יהוה שָׁמַר--Yahweh Shamar (God Watches)

Image
Psalm 121 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. There are numerous passages I cling to when stress takes over my life. I would be hard pressed to declare a favorite, but this psalm would come close. So this morning I listened to Psalm 121 about 20 times as I meditated through the verses. First, I want to point out that the word or idea of shamar appears in every verse expect 6. The NIV uses the word "watch" while the ESV uses "keep". The...
Read more

Excusez-moi

Image
2 Kings 23:31-37 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-fiv...
Read more

Narrow Door

Image
Luke 13:22-30 22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them , 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at tabl...
Read more