Week 10 | Tuesday

Read: Ephesians 4:11-16

Becoming more like Jesus includes becoming more generous. We have already considered the why, how, and what of becoming more generous with your financial resources. This week, as you can already tell, we are digging into becoming more generous with your time through serving.

We looked at the why of becoming more generous with our time yesterday. We play a teaser trailer to "life with Jesus" when we serve. In other words, we demonstrate in tangible ways what Jesus brings to people's lives in ways that exceed what we can touch, feel, taste, and sometimes even explain.

Once again, Paul gives us the how of becoming more generous. He uses Body language (not facial expressions and movements, but the human body as a metaphor) to help us see how we can carry out the why of becoming more generous with our time.

The human body has 206 bones, 650 muscles, and 78 organs. Each one serves a specific purpose in conjunction with all the others. The more complete a body is, the healthier it is, and the closer it is to its original design. The Church is like that. We each have a purpose and are designed to work together with the rest of the parts so "the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love" (Ephesians 4:16). This includes Jesus. Even he is a part of the Body. He's the head, and "He makes the whole body fit perfectly together" (Ephesians 4:15).

Paul's list of gifts Christ gave to the church is pretty short. Don't look at that list and think, "Well, I'm not an apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd, or teacher. So, I must not have anything to offer. I'll just leave all the churchy work to the staff." The Body has like 930 other parts…and you are one of them. Consider the following three things while praying about how you might become more generous as you become more like Jesus.

Profession: What do (or did) you do to earn a living? The skills you use to earn an income are also gifts from Jesus. Why not use those to serve him in and beyond your job?

Passions: What are your hobbies? I have a friend who is a sales manager and an incredible hobbyist handyman. He can't really use his hobby skills at work, so he's using them at his church to lead maintenance projects around our building. Do you have hobbies you could employ for the kingdom of God?  

Personality: Some ways to serve flow from how we're wired, not from what we do. Gifts of hospitality, for example, come from a heart for connecting with people. What personality traits could you use to show others Jesus?

Reflect on these in prayer with the Lord.