1 Peter 5:2-4

"Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."
1 Peter 5:2-4


This is cool... I like how God cares *how* we do things instead of just having a little checklist of things to do.  Sincerity always counts. :)  And, of course, these things help us to build our community of Zion... we'll never get there if we are doing things because we "should" but resenting it.  Guilt-trip motivation never built anything of worth.  ... but when we actually understand and love the law, and take care of each other because we love each other... then we are approaching Godliness. :)  I like, as well, how God has set up his church to reflect the whole sincerity thing. :)  Bishops can't be motivated by the money, because they don't get paid. :)  When we go to church and do our work for and in the church... we might not have the greatest motivation, but at least it isn't monetary.  That gives it at least a chance of being sincere. :)  The last thing I wanted to talk about here is the "ready mind" part.  as the scripture continues it says that we shouldn't think of ourselves as lords over people, but as examples.  I think this goes back directly to having a ready mind.  Our minds have to be ready to accept things God's way and not the world's way.  In the world that we live in, people do a lot of things in order to have power over others.  God doesn't work that way though... and Christ definitely didn't have that kind of leadership strategy when he was on the earth.  So, when we are given leadership positions by God in the church, we are always tempted to look at it the world's way, and think that we are the boss, we are "in charge" and get to run the ship whatever way we feel like... :)  Christ, though, led by example.  He walked the road that each of us needs to walk, and provided a precedent to everything that we are required to do.  And a ready mind probably also means ready to think of others and not yourself. ... we live in a pretty "me" society, and that is another thing that we have to be ready to let go of in our lives.  I don't think I have a complete handle on what having a ready mind means, but perhaps those are some of the facets of it.  Today, let's try to be sincere, and giving.