My late dad was extremely mechanical and handy. Me—not so much. Dad encouraged me to experience something he didn’t get to do—enjoy childhood. Dad, who I knew to be a hard worker with a strong work ethic, also encouraged me to learn how to work with mind more than my back.
Whether you work with your brain or your hands, success in life depends on knowing your purpose and learning how to use the right tools to fulfill that purpose.
My purpose is to share Christ through my thoughts, my words, and my actions.
The Holy Spirit has reminded me of this in recent days as I shared a verse from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.
An old friend of mine responded to my post. He said —somewhat jokingly—that these were key staples in his relational toolkit.
Not one to shy away from an opportunity to talk Jesus and the Bible, I responded.
No doubt, my friend. I could see how those would be your staples in your toolbox 😃.
In his letter to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul encourages and exhorts followers of Jesus to be more like him.
For me personally, as a believer and follower of Christ, I’m continually learning what it looks like to be more like Jesus in my daily walk and practice. That includes the thoughts I think, the words I speak, and the actions that I take.
Yet, even today, I still fall short and I stumble as I earnestly try to live out my faith.
I posted this mainly as a reminder to myself as well as encouragement to others who are trying to live out their faith in earnest and with integrity. I came to a point in my life where I needed to find some new tools to put in my toolbox.
Thankfully, Jesus was there to provide me with the tools I needed—even though I don’t always use them in the manner intended.
A Recent Facebook Post I Wrote
What had prompted my post to begin with was the Holy Spirit convicting me about my growing carelessness in using profanity. As a matter of fact, earlier this last week, I had to ask a young man who works for me to forgive me for a colorfully worded response I had given him. Keep in mind, the new year just started and I’m already asking people to forgive me.
Perhaps because I’m around it more often than I was a few years ago, profanity has increasingly peppered my tongue. This is something I became aware of—-again, thank you Holy Spirit—early last year. And it was something I tried working on in my own strength and rationalized in my humanness.
The Devotional Guy™
Here’s the deal: as Christians we should be extra cautious about creating any stumbling blocks for others. If, as a Christian, particularly as a leader, I’m dropping multi-syllable F-bombs like Ranch dressing on a green salad, there’s an issue.
So, with a great repentance, I’ve turned to God’s Word for guidance to check not only my speech, but my thoughts and actions, and how they align with being a bold and grateful ambassador for Christ.
There are lots of ways that we can be in spiritual chains, much like the Apostle Paul experienced being in physical chains. And just like the physical chains sought to impede Paul’s mission and ministry, our spiritual chains will upend our ability to be true salt and true light in a broken world that is in desperate need of the saving power of the Gospel.
What do you need release from, fellow believer?
May we, as ambassadors for the Gospel be mindful of the words that leave our mouth and conscious of how our behavior speaks to what we believe about the Lord.
That’s a glimpse of my first week of 2024…
How was yours?
With a heavy, repentant heart,
Rainer Bantau
The Devotional Guy™
The Devotional Guy™ 
Amen, Alton. We can be thankful Christ and His work on the Cross. Abiding in Him is key. Thank you for your generous thoughts and kind words. And thank you for reading my posts and following my blog. Blessings.
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Nothing would leave more impact than a devcotional which highlights our weaknesses and our cure that is Christ alone. Yes abiding in Him is the Key and God uses devotionals such as yours to keep us on check to self examine ourselves. Please keep them coming, I thank God for you. Shalom and abundant blessings in Christ.
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Amen 🙏
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Blessings Rainer. I appreciate your straightforward testament. Apostle Paul shares an encouraging message, for he understands how we all fall short of our Father’s expectations. Yet, His love-filled grace opens our hearts to repentance and forgiveness.
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I appreciate you stopping by my blog and sharing your personal experience. You’re right—Jesus should mean more—especially our witness as ambassadors. Glad my post hit the spot. Blessings🙏
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I was recently convicted of something similar. Not with profanity, though I would jokingly “allow myself one word per day.” My conviction was more around lowball jokes..think like anatomy jokes, locker room stuff. I love making people laugh, and an unsuspecting or well-timed witty line will surely do it, my example of Christ just has to mean more. Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you 🙏
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Happy New Year. Saying a prayer for you today. 🙏
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Thank you for sharing your insights and thoughts on this post, Linda. It’s hard for me to go out of the house and not have to explain stuff to myself, let alone kids. I’m grateful that you stopped by my blog. Blessings and Happy New Year 🙏!
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What a loving God we have, that He brings these things to our attention when we don’t realize they need attention. I heard a retired minister speak about the importance of guarding our eyes and ears in our endeavor to guard our hearts and minds. He had grown up in a home without Christ and his home had been full of profanity. He apologized that if he ever suffers from dementia and therefore loses his fruit of self-control, all the things that have gone into his mind will most certainly tumble back out. That’s something I teach my kids now… better a filter that prevents the unwholesome from ever entering our minds than to have to apply a filter to keep them from replaying and tumbling back out. You are right–our world today does not hide its ungodly practices. but increasingly puts it in the open. It is hard to go out of the house without having to explain something to the children.
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Amen, Alan. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and impressions on this post. Blessings –
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This is a good post Rainer; your honesty shines a light on an area the enemy would rather stayed in the dark, but in your turning to God’s Word you are in the hands of our Great Physician – His Holy Spirit scalpel will heal you! You are not alone brother, we all have dark corners that the enemy uses against us if we let him. I am prone to anger too easily while driving or walking in town, which will sometimes result in expletives – these hurt as the enemy accuses me “look at you Alan!” I do repent of these outbursts, and they are getting to be fewer the older I become.
May our Father God continue to guide us in His Word, and draw us closer to Him each day.🙏
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Me too. Thank you for reading, liking, and commenting on my post, Bridget.
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Thank you for being transparent. We all have different stumbling blocks. And I agree that who we are around will have an impact on some of those stumbling blocks. I’m so thankful that Jesus is there to help us turn those things around and become more like Him each day. 🙏
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Thank you! I’m glad to hear this post was helpful to you. Thanks for reading, liking, and commenting.
Blessings 🙏
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Great message and gave me a blog topic from scripture Ephesians 5:4. Thank you and have a great day.
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