“On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king's hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance. When he saw Queen Esther standing in the court, he was pleased with her and held out to her the gold scepter that was in his hand. So Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter.” – Esther 5:1-2
While she was not summoned, Esther came with the appropriate posture of humility. She did not take this moment lightly. She prayed. She prepared. And she invited others to play a role as well.
As believers, I can’t help but think about those who we approach today. In our culture, most of those who are far from faith want very little to do with it, mostly because of the perception of our posture of judgment instead of genuine concern or acceptance. I see the tension that rises on an airplane when the person next to me finds out I’m a pastor. The attitude of most change the moment the topic of church arises. The demeanor of most quickly shifts when they think they are at risk of being judged.
We have a lot to learn from Esther. Not only did she spend time in prayer and fasting before she approached the king, she considered heavily the cost of her actions. She begged God to go before her and was willing to sacrifice it all. Even her life.
The key lies in the fact that she was going on behalf of others, to literally save their lives. Her motivation wasn’t prideful or self-serving at all. She came out of a genuine concern for others.
We have the greatest message to share on the planet. As believers we have the hope the world needs in Christ. We have nothing to offer in and of ourselves, only love. With that in mind, we should be more committed to praying for others around us. I think that during the process, not only will God go before us… I bet He’ll also soften our hearts. I think He’ll break our heart for the needs in our community. I think He’ll give us the right posture and perspective. And along the way, I think He’ll change us as well.
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The servant's attitude is the hardest thing for me personally to come to terms with. I can have all the head knowledge in the world but, it is hard to put heart knowledge to it and put it into action. I think the older we get the harder our shell gets. We need the daily time, hourly even, to focus on God and Jesus. When we do that, at least for me, the attitude of caring and feeling for others seems to open up and flow. - Michael
ReplyDeleteMarch 10, 2009 – Esther 5 "D'oh"
ReplyDeleteV11&12 Calling together his friends and Zeresh, his wife, Haman boasted to them about his vast wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored him and how he had elevated him above the other nobles and officials. “And that is not all,” Haman added. “I’m the only person Queen Esther invited to accompany the king to the banquet she gave. And she has invited me along with the king tomorrow.”
Have you ever totally misread a situation? Have you ever looked at the moments leading up to something and been absolutely sure that you knew the next step only to get the rug pulled out from you?
Haman just did not see it coming. Haman looked at his wealth and assumed it was evidence of his competence. He then extended that to his relationship with the Queen. For him is was just as night follows day that since he had so much, since he was so competent; the Queen could only be bringing him in to celebrate him. Tee-it up for a reality check – Haman is about to get a smack up side the head
This is where we goof it up – we look at what we have or what we have done and we feel deep inside, whether we admit it or even know it, that the results came from us. Then we project forward and assume the results will continue since they are from us and we just know that others will honor us because of our capability.
When we take away our hand in the equation it changes everything. Now it is not possible for them to honor us for the results because we did not do it. We are left with that stark difference between what we do and who we are becoming. When they start to honor us for who we are becoming…well then they are not honoring us. Because we are striving to become like Him, we are pointing toward Him and in the end, they are looking past us and looking toward Him.
When they honor you – who are they honoring?