Hearing
“What do you want people to hear about you?” This is the question my husband used at the beginning of a recent Sunday morning message. He had read Ephesians 1:15-16 as his text, “Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.” He then went on to emphasize that Paul had “heard” that the Ephesian believers’ faith was in the Lord and that they had love for all the saints.
As he continued the message, my thoughts went back to the question – What do I want people to hear about me? And not only “hear” about me, but to be “true” about me. Here are just a few that I want to share. Maybe they are things you would want others to know to be true about you, too.
I want people to “hear” that:
1. I love the Lord.
“And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deut. 6:5). How I want this to be so very evident and true in my life! It is quite easy to say that I love Him, to sing that I love Him, to pray that I love Him. But I want it to seep deeply into every part of my life – my thoughts, my habits, my actions. How I want this to be the basis of everything I do, the reason for my life! Don’t you?
2. My faith is in the Lord.
Our faith can only be in Him – not in others, not in self, not in movements, not in politics, not in religion. Only in Him. The apostles said to Jesus, “Increase our faith” (Luk. 17:5). May my faith in Jesus deepen and increase as I continue my walk with Him. Lines from these great hymns flow through my mind as I ponder my faith:
“My faith has found a resting place; not in device or creed.”
“My faith looks up to Thee; Thou Lamb of Calvary.”
Do you also want others to know that your faith is only in the Lord?
3. I love my fellow believers.
Do other believers know that I love them? Jesus is very adamant about this in John 15:12: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” It surely isn’t a suggestion! I have been guilty of not “liking” some members of God’s family at times (my pride and humanness taking over, sadly). The Lord has convicted me of this often over the years, and I have had to do some serious repenting and thought-changing. But do I show love to my brothers and sisters in Christ? Do they know that I love them? There are many ways to do this: taking time for them, praying for them, gifting them, crying with them, sharing with them, having them into your home, meeting a need, telling them. Our church family has loved us so well over the many years that we have been here. What an example they are to others. Do you love your brothers and sisters in Christ?
So, back to the question – “What do you want people to hear about you?” That you love the Lord? That your faith is in the Lord? That you love your fellow believers? What an example the believers in Ephesians have given us to follow! May we likewise have that same testimony.
