Ephesians 4:28

"Let the thief steal no more, but rather let him be industrious, making an honest living with his own hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need." Ephesians 4:28

In prayer over our verse here before us, I was reminded not to come to the well with my own cup. I thought about what that meant and was left to understand this... that, when we approach God's word, we should not bring our own idea of our need (the value of it's application) of His message. It borders on arrogance, assuming that we know what Word, or how much of it we need. At first, I would not have considered this verse very applicable to myself... you see. I don't steal... I am not a thief... "Am I a thief, Lord?"... "How have I stole?". As soon as I asked that question, I was taken to another verse:

"Will a man rob or defraud God? Yet you rob and defraud Me. But you say, In what way do we rob or defraud You? [You have withheld your] tithes and offerings" Malachi 3:8

Now whether or not Mal 3:8 was applicable to myself or not, the point is that I came to this verse in Eph 4... this flowing fountain of Jesus Christ's water of life, with my own cup. I presumed that I knew how much of it I needed. Honestly, I am aware from my study of all God's Word, that there are many ways that we can rob, both God, and our fellow man... so many ways, that I forget some of them until I read them again. And the fact that, "someone may remember all those verses better than I", still won't make them any less dependent on the Holy Spirit either, because we know that He is continually revealing God's Word. This goes back to Paul's question, "Did we not learn Christ"... instead of asking us, have you not memorized the whole bible?

So, again, we see the need to trust in and rely upon the Holy Spirit's leading and not on our own, because we can always presume that we have not robbed God, yet we have not fully understood all He has to teach us. Here, in the second of Paul's specific issues in the process of being renewed (putting off the old nature and putting on Christ Jesus), we must open our hearts now to the Holy Spirit with this issue of each one of us making an honest living with our own hands.

Finally, if we ask why should we make an honest living with our own hands... we see that it is "so that we may be able to give to those in need," Paul never loses track of where He is in this teaching, even though so much ground has been covered. This idea of giving to those in need ties all the way back to our being of ONE BODY. A body is only as strong as it's weakest organ. One failure of an organ impacts the whole body. In the Army we were trained in a similar way, that, "a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link". Some people just cannot work, like we might, yet find something to do... some way to contribute to the family, the ministry, the body of Christ. But when someone just cannot provide for themselves, we will be lead by the Holy Spirit and must share what we make with those. Jesus said once, that people in need will always be with us.

Let's pick up with Ephesians verse 4:29 next time.

I love you.