I’m the Lord’s vassal

Do you have words that you just love the way they sound as they roll off the end of your tongue? Vassal is one of those words for me. Defined it means someone who is a subordinate or servant. (MW) I began to ponder what it means to be the Lord’s vassal. The Holy Spirit was teaching me a lesson that it is not all about me. Let me explain.

In June of 2018 I believed the Spirit was strongly urging, leading, prompting, compelling and directing me to start a blog site. This was well outside of my skill set and comfort zone. I prayed for direction that if God REALLY wanted me to do this, He would have to make the path clear and put the people in my life who could help me accomplish this. Well, even though I was terrified with this new twist in my life, God got me through it anyway, and here we are. “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” (Heb. 10:35-36 [NIV]) “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service.” (1 Tim. 1:12 [NIV]) “Instead, fix your attention of God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it.” (Rom. 12:2 [MSG])

I had a bunch of ideas that just began to bubble out of me. (Interesting visual, right?) I wrote them all down so I could research and prepare them to post. As with anything God wants to use for good, Satan wants to step in and mess it up. God’s messages were still coming through, but I looked forward to checking my site too much, checking to see if I had any likes on a post, or did I gain any new followers. In full disclosure, I am not on Facebook, nor do I tweet and I am glad, because I found just from this experience how addicting it can be. It was taking the focus off of God and putting it on me and my gratification.

God in His infinite grace brought me some humility before I got overwhelmed from this. These are His posts flowing through me and I am only able to write due to His insight and intervention. I also believe His wisdom is protecting me. The internet can be a scary place full of predators and scammers who live by taking advantage of good things.

God made me realize it was not too smart to post my actual name and picture on my site. (Thank you God for saving me from myself.) When I started the site, WordPress assigned me the name of “godstillspeakstoday14.” Fun fact, in the Bible, 14, being a multiple of 7 implies a double measure of spiritual perfection. My take on this is that this is God’s site because only He is perfect.

As to my picture, I have a beautiful Christian sister who is raising three amazing granddaughters. The eldest, a young lady of 13 years, has a blossoming artistic ability. I asked her to take my picture and draw me in Japanese anime style. She did a magnificent job and it is now what pops up on my site.

In my profile, I also changed my real name to “Co-heir in Christ” as my first name, and “John 3:30” as my last name. “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.” (John 3:30 [TLB]) This makes for a great ice breaker at parties.

Bob: Hi. I’m Bob and this is Shelia.

Me: Hi. I’m Co-heir in Christ John 3:30.

Bob: Uh…okay. So what do you do?

Me: I live my life making Jesus greater and greater while I become less and less.

Bob: Oh look Sheila, there’s Brad and Janet!

Bonus director’s cut alternate ending:

Bob: Why that’s fascinating, please tell us more!

Try this at the next party you attend, and you’ll see what a great opportunity it is to witness about Jesus.

I am now more aware of Jesus taking center stage, am grateful for this lesson regarding my posts, as well as in all the other areas of my life. I don’t want it to be about me. I want to point everyone to Jesus and His glory. That’s the ultimate message I want to express with everything I say and do.

In researching John 3:30 I came across a website of a company called HE>i. (He is greater than I) They state on their website that “the idea for the logo came in 2003 while trying to think of something clever to put on the main screen of a Nokia phone.” Their purpose is to use their products to “encourage, inspire, and share the Good News of our savior, Jesus. It provides opportunities for people to share the Good News with anyone who asks about our simple logo.”

How cool is that? If more people and businesses acted like this was their motto, this world would be a much different place my friends. Let’s strive to do just that everyday, shall we? My ultimate goal is to get out the Word to hasten the return of Jesus. “For in just a very little while, ‘He who is coming will come and will not delay.” (Heb. 10:37 [NIV])

On bad days, I ask that very question of Jesus. “Are you sure you don’t want to come back today? Right now even?” But then I’m reminded that, “the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” ( Pet. 3:9 [NIV]) “God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim. 2:3-4 [NIV])

So let’s all be vassals for Jesus! Or maybe a minion, because who doesn’t love those cute little yellow guys, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXIBP2BdYR8 Casting Crowns “Only Jesus”

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