My 3-year old granddaughter is a happy little character, eager to help when I’m cooking or doing some other household chores.  I know that it would be so much easier to just clean the floor or cook the meal without her “help”, but I also recognize the importance of welcoming her assistance while she actively learns to participate in life around the home.  As I guide her not so coordinated little hands or bite my tongue when she, in her enthusiasm, spills the milk, I cannot help but think about our heavenly Father’s response to our eager but unrefined offers to “help”.

Eugenie loves to help—she doesn’t offer in order to get us to love her more, to get respect, or to earn favors—she is just a very loved, little bundle of energy who wants to be a part of the activities of our home.  We are still working on the picking up toys part of responsibility, but she is willing to do that, particularly when we lend a helping hand.  Her desire to participate in family life by helping out reminds me of some of my experiences as I have journeyed through life—particularly my eagerness to help and a desire to be involved in ministry in some capacity.  I encountered several different kinds of responses to my eagerness throughout the years, even some disheartening ones.

Sometime after that initial excitement and anticipation of being actively involved in ministry, sometime after the disappointments, the joy of service gradually became a sense of duty—and disappointment led into questioning whether I had any sort of calling or purpose within the body of Christ.  Ministry took on shades of obligation, giving became something required, and the most exciting opportunities appeared to be available only to those who were more esteemed, more qualified, or could afford to participate.

Now I am no authority on the tactics of the enemy; anyone of us can read about some of his strategies in the Bible, though.  I know he casts doubt on God’s Word and twists it for His own purposes—both Eve’s encounter with Satan in the garden and Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness give us some great insight into his intentions.  Clearly, demons do not want us to fulfill our created purpose or experience our divine destiny, so they attempt to refocus our attentions from the Savior onto our circumstances and ourselves.  I am also convinced that Satan knows the Scriptures much better than most Christians and is able to manipulate them, and us, in ways to render us quite ineffective—that is, if we are not watchful, remembering our “adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

Our childlike desire to “help” is God-initiated because it is He who works in us “both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13)—He gifts us and guides our hands to fulfill His purposes.  Yet it is possible for Satan and his cohorts to sidetrack and incapacitate us; and if we allow pride, fear, or insecurity to affect our relationship with God and others, the enemy is able to render us quite fruitless.

I’ve been struggling with writing this blog – I had a direction I thought I wanted to go with it, but the words just did not come.  I wanted to follow the thought that everyone is gifted by the Holy Spirit—“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.  To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:4-7).  …or to remind us that we each have a holy calling:  “Our Lord…who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began” (2 Timothy 1:9).

Instead, I am reminded of Christ’s warning to the church at Ephesus in the book of Revelation:  “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.  Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first” (Revelation 2:4, 5).  The interesting thing is that, as I recall past teachings on that verse, “do the works” was the emphasis, and not “you have abandoned the love you had at first”.  Looking back at Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church, this is what he wrote:  “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked….But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:1, 4-10).

When our focus slips away from the mercy, love, grace, and kindness of God onto a works-based relationship with Him, it is only natural that the excitement and spontaneity that accompanies “first love” slips away, also.

This is where is ultimately wanted to go with this post:  We are in the midst of intense spiritual warfare and when the enemy can distract us from the pure gospel of Christ, our position in God’s kingdom, and unabashed love for our Savior and His people, then he is buying time for himself.  We have Jesus’ assurance that “this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).  Now is the time to step away from echoing the accusations and condemnation of the enemy, from the religious traps that so easily snare us, and from the enticements of this world—back into excitement for the good news of the gospel and uninhibited love of our Savior.