Nice or Called?

September 9 (Mark 1:37-38)

When they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.” But Jesus replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.”  (NLT)

Jesus had been healing many people, and suddenly everyone was looking for Him.  Wasn’t that a good thing?  It was, but it wasn’t why Jesus had come, and He was not going to let anything get in the way of His mission, not even good deeds.  As important as the direct healing of sick people was, His principal work was to share the good news that the kingdom of God was at hand, that God was actually on earth making reconciliation with Him possible for all people.

You probably do many good things for those around you, but ask yourself this.  How much of your life is spent doing what you were called to do?  Now, don’t get this wrong.  No one is saying to ignore a need in front of you just to do something you think is grand and important.  But seriously, how much of your life is taken up in nice, pleasant, even beneficial activities that are keeping you from what God sent you and only you to do?

And do you even know what that is?  Jesus had a clear sense of His mission.  He knew what the Father had sent Him to do.  Do you?  If you do not spend time with God, listening to what He has to say to you, you will spend your life in a flurry of activity, much of it good, but will miss the unique calling He has for you.

Father, rather than asking You to bless my efforts, I come to You today asking what Your will for me is.  Show me the tasks to which You have truly called me, and may I be quick to perform them.  I ask in the name of Jesus, amen.

Copyright © 2018 by Steven R. Perkins

Staying True To The Call

October 1 (Luke 12:35-36)

Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.  (ESV)

The class in the room next to the one in which I teach is a French classroom, and the teacher stands in the door each day during the passing periods holding vocabulary cards.  Her students must define one of the words before entering.  She was absent recently, and I was impressed with her students when I saw them taking her spot and doing what she always does.  They were holding the cards for their classmates to define as they came to class. 

I have no way of knowing whether Jesus will return while I am still alive, but if He does, I want Him to find me doing what He has called me to do.  I am glad for my call and want to fulfill it in ways that please Him.  I want Him to take joy that one of His servants has served Him well.

If He were to return tomorrow, where would He find you?  Would He find you using the gifts He has given you, developing them, and putting them to use in work for the kingdom of God?  If Jesus entered any aspect of your life, would He join you in what you were doing because He could recognize the work as His own?

Lord Jesus, I consecrate the work of my life to You.  In great works and in small, in my response to major callings and in my fulfillment of daily activities, may all I do, say, and think be to Your glory.  Amen.

Copyright © 2017 by Steven R. Perkins

God Is Working Through You

March 20 (2 Corinthians 9:8)

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.  (ESV)

Almost all of us have programs or apps running in the background that we have forgotten or were completely unaware of.  Sometimes I will check my phone and find apps operating that I have no recollection of opening.  Do you realize that God is always at work in your life, whether you realize it or not?

In a quite stunning away I came face to face with this recently.  Omitting the details, I will simply say that God showed me very clearly how He has been using my calling as a teacher to work in lives in ways I could not possibly have imagined, and I needed to see that.  I needed to have this peek behind the scenes, and He was gracious enough to give it to me.

When you question your calling or the value of your work or just call into question what you are doing with your life, consider this verse.  God is at work in all things and at all times so that you may abound in every good work.  If you have surrendered your life to Him then He is at this moment working through you.  What more could anyone want?

Father, I have doubts sometimes about what I am doing.  Am I truly doing all that You have called me to do?  Confirm Your calling in me.  Show me how Your purposes are being accomplished in my life so that with confidence I may run my race to the finish.  I pray this in the name of Jesus, Who for the glory set before Him endured all things, even the cross.  Amen.

Copyright © 2016 by Steven R. Perkins