Monday, September 15, 2014
Part of the reason the Apostle Paul wrote a second letter to Timothy, his son in the gospel, was to encourage him in the difficulties he knew Timothy would encounter in his own ministry. He told him to be strong and to endure hardship as a good soldier would, adding: “No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs--he wants to please his commanding officer.” ( 2 Timothy 2:4) I hope you see, as I do in this verse, purpose, focus, commitment, and devotion to duty. In our daily lives, all these things are necessary, not just for soldiers. Paul wrote that a good soldier’s purpose was to please his commanding officer. What is your life’s purpose? Why has God placed your in your present situation, why do you do what you do, and who do you do it for? What are your goals?
If your purpose and goal is to care for and provide for your spouse and children, you will admit that sometimes the task becomes difficult. You wake up to a hateful sounding alarm some mornings, knowing you’ve only had a few hours of sleep. You turn it off and sit at the edge of the bed looking for and thinking of a reasonable sounding excuse you can give when you call work to tell them you won’t be coming in. Then you think of those who are depending on you and also, of course, on not being a bad testimony for Christ. The thought that you can’t let those you love down gives you the strength to get up and go do a good day’s work.
Therefore, whatever you do today, do it with all your heart and to the best of your ability, remembering who you are doing it for. You may not be the strongest, smartest, the most skillful or resourceful person doing what you do, but if you are a child of God, you should not come in second to anybody as far as reliability and dedication are concerned. After all, when we do what we do for a certain somebody, there is no one higher than Jesus.
Memory verse for the week: (Philippians 3:8 NLT) “Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ.”
