For You or For God
How many times have you worked out so hard that you got sick to your stomach? How many times have you gone on a diet where you were hungry all the time but you would not eat? Or what about the time you had to get up early to go to a game? All of these questions have one thing that is in common: suffering. Getting sick to our stomach, starving, and getting up early are not what we call fun. Why do we do them then?
Everyone likes it when they make it to the end of their goal; we like it even more when our goal has a reward that we can see. The questions above have another similarity-- they hold a reward. Working out till you feel like you are going to die pays off because if you keep up the hard work, you will be in good shape. Dieting has the reward of keeping us thin and in shape. Getting up early to go to a game pays of in the hope that you might win a game. All of these activities are great things. I am not saying that you should not do them. Would you suffer to the same extent for the Lord though?
I find that when it comes to jumping out of bed at 4:30 a.m. to go skiing I do not mind suffering through the tiredness, but when it comes time for me to get up at 7:00 a.m. to spend time with God I just cannot do it. I would use some of the other topics to prove my point, but it would be too embarrassing to go there. I am always ready to beat my flesh up when I can taste the outcome, but ask me to do it for the glory of God and I will often stop short. I know in my heart that it would be a good thing to go out evangelizing, but it is such hard work and it gets so hot that the whole time I’m miserable. Funny thing is that nine times out of ten it is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Satan will only let us remember the bad times.
As much as I do not like to say this because it is so convicting for me, we will not let our flesh suffer if it is suffering for God; when it comes to things of the world we have no hesitation. If we get up early in the morning to spend time with God, evangelize till we cannot stand any more, pray and fast so that we may know his will, even if it is extremely painful and miserable, it is for a good cause, for we will have our reward in heaven. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day. 2Tim. 4:7. Some day we will get that reward that we so greatly desire.
Project: I will take one day and set it aside for fasting and praying.
1.I will take one day and set it aside for fasting and praying.
2.I will get up early every morning to spend time with God (Except for Saturdays).
3. I will talk to five people about Christ and his plan for them.
Like I said last month, you are more than welcome to join me in these projects. They are there to help me grow, but if you would like to do them too, please feel free. (Mostly I am telling you this because I do not want to do them alone.) If you do decide to take one or even all three on, please let me know so that I can be praying for you.
Follow-Up: The part that you all have been waiting for! Well, I wish that I could say this went really well....but I cannot. I can count about five times that I actually went above the call of duty. Other than that, it did not cross my mind to do a job at 110%. I will get up early every morning to spend time with God (Except for Saturdays).
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
All to the Glory of God
Every day we have the power to do great things for God’s glory, even if this power lies in doing the mundane things. For teenagers, this sometimes is doing our school. For grownups, this is cleaning the house and going to work. For the longest time I have thought that these things were nothing more than mundane, insignificant things, but over this summer God has shown me something.
We can all look back on what we would say when people asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up. The people asking the question thought it more of a joke because they knew that hardly ever do people grow up to do what they said they would as children. Why is this the case? As a child I wanted to be a missionary to China. After this choice for a career wore off, I thought it would be good if I did something with more affect on the world, so I set my sights on becoming the president. There is nothing wrong in these ambitions in and of themselves. Now that I am a teenager, I am having to look at what type of job I do want to have. Maybe it would be better if I just stayed home and cooked, that way I am ready for Prince Charming. Or should I get myself a job because one never knows when prince charming might come around? If I do get a job, should I look at one that will get me lots of money so that I can be secure in my old age? It should also be a job that I like because I would not want to get bored. These are some of the first things that run through our minds when it comes to picking a job.
These are reasonable questions to ask, but there is also something missing.... In what kind of job can I most effectively serve the Lord? This question does not mean that you have to become a missionary or a pastor. God needs good lawyers, doctors, businessmen, teachers, house wives, and any thing else you can think of. The point that I am a trying to make is, "Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." I am sorry to say, teenagers, at this point in time all of us have been called to do school.
Getting a job that gives God the most glory takes a lot of thought and is a very large process. If that was the only thing that we had to do to serve God, life would be a whole lot easier. The verse "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1Cor.10:31) makes it very clear that even the small things count. The sad thing is that seeing our task as serving God even in the small things, does not make the task any easier.
As children we do not want to do the little things like cleaning our room, being nice to our sister, and obeying our parents. We cannot see the value in these tasks. As teenagers we do not see the value in school, a menial job, or in obeying our parents. I cannot speak for grownups, because I have not reached that part of my life, but if you are a grownup and you are reading this, I am sure you can fill in the blank. All the jobs that we call little in life are in fact important, because if we never learned to do the little things, God could not trust us with the big things.
Project: Each day I will ask God to show me his will for that day. I will also put a hundred and ten percent into every job that I do.
The purpose of the projects that will follow each blog are more to help me than you. They are goals that I have laid out for myself to better my walk with God. You are invited to do them with me and to keep me accountable on the result-- good or bad. Next month when I post there will be a subparagraph that will say followup which will be the results of my project.
We can all look back on what we would say when people asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up. The people asking the question thought it more of a joke because they knew that hardly ever do people grow up to do what they said they would as children. Why is this the case? As a child I wanted to be a missionary to China. After this choice for a career wore off, I thought it would be good if I did something with more affect on the world, so I set my sights on becoming the president. There is nothing wrong in these ambitions in and of themselves. Now that I am a teenager, I am having to look at what type of job I do want to have. Maybe it would be better if I just stayed home and cooked, that way I am ready for Prince Charming. Or should I get myself a job because one never knows when prince charming might come around? If I do get a job, should I look at one that will get me lots of money so that I can be secure in my old age? It should also be a job that I like because I would not want to get bored. These are some of the first things that run through our minds when it comes to picking a job.
These are reasonable questions to ask, but there is also something missing.... In what kind of job can I most effectively serve the Lord? This question does not mean that you have to become a missionary or a pastor. God needs good lawyers, doctors, businessmen, teachers, house wives, and any thing else you can think of. The point that I am a trying to make is, "Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." I am sorry to say, teenagers, at this point in time all of us have been called to do school.
Getting a job that gives God the most glory takes a lot of thought and is a very large process. If that was the only thing that we had to do to serve God, life would be a whole lot easier. The verse "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1Cor.10:31) makes it very clear that even the small things count. The sad thing is that seeing our task as serving God even in the small things, does not make the task any easier.
As children we do not want to do the little things like cleaning our room, being nice to our sister, and obeying our parents. We cannot see the value in these tasks. As teenagers we do not see the value in school, a menial job, or in obeying our parents. I cannot speak for grownups, because I have not reached that part of my life, but if you are a grownup and you are reading this, I am sure you can fill in the blank. All the jobs that we call little in life are in fact important, because if we never learned to do the little things, God could not trust us with the big things.
Project: Each day I will ask God to show me his will for that day. I will also put a hundred and ten percent into every job that I do.
The purpose of the projects that will follow each blog are more to help me than you. They are goals that I have laid out for myself to better my walk with God. You are invited to do them with me and to keep me accountable on the result-- good or bad. Next month when I post there will be a subparagraph that will say followup which will be the results of my project.
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