I just heard a short devotional on the radio and it REALLY made me think about things! It asked the question, “Are you working for Christ for nothing?” THAT got my attention, and I listened to what followed. It was so very short that he didn’t get a chance to go deep enough, but the main point was that if you are working for Christ and are grumbling, complaining, telling everyone how much you are doing or how much you are sacrificing, what you do will not be rewarded.
I got to thinking about how much of what I have done will not be rewarded. I also got to thinking about how much of other people’s “good deeds” will not be rewarded either. If we are “working for the Lord” and are grumbling about others, holding grudges, griping because we have to be there, etc. it will be all for nothing. I shared with our praise band the other Sunday how blessed we are to be here, early, and be able to do what we are doing! I think that Satan has really gotten us to think backwards about what we do for God. He has convinced us that it is sacrifice, or “work” (in the bad sense) and that we have a right to complain, or to talk about others while we are doing it, as long as we do it. (Another scripture just came to mind about people standing before God saying that they did all of this stuff and He says, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” That is really scarey!) Well, all of this is to say that I am really trying to make my work count for Christ and not complain, or grumble, or talk about others, or whatever. I am also trying to look on the things that I do as gifts from the Father. (Before I accepted God’s call, I used to sit in the auditorium of our church and think, how great to work here every day! It’s time to return to that line of thinking!)
Well, I guess that is all for now. I could really go much deeper, but I will leave that to the rest of the folks on the porch.
The reason that I entitled this “Am I A Jellyfish??” is that they have no backbones. They just kind of lay around and “go with the flow” so-to-speak. They have no direction, they don’t swim very well against the tide, and they always seem to end up on the beach laying there and looking pitiful.
OKAY, the reason I ask this is because I ABSOLUTELY HATE CONTROVERSY!!!!! I used to tell myself I enjoyed debating, and when I know that no one is mad, then I’m alright with it, but when I feel that someone may be getting angry or upset (whether real or perceived) I have to make everything wind down so everyone is happy again. I used to think it was just being a “jellyfish,” then I thought that I was a peacemaker (which made me feel better), now I’m just not sure anymore. Is anyone out there having an identity struggle with this as I am? Is it natural to hate conflict, or is it just being a “jellyfish”? I mean, I will confront when I have to, but ONLY when I have to!
I mean, it seems like some people exist for the debate. Is it the way that God has “wired” us? Oh well…just a thought.
I just read a very thought provoking blog on dolan’s blog (axegrinder.org). I’m sorry that I still can’t seem to learn how to do a link, just hit the axegrinder link on the side and go to it.
Anyway, he talked about moral relativism and legalism and how some people can be convicted of a sin (such as drinking alcohol) and some people are not. I realize that this is a touchy subject, but I am really not talking about that subject so much as to where it led me.
I came to the point that we ask ourselves the wrong question when we deal with these areas because, I think, we are operating out of different frames of reference when it comes to motivation. I think that people want a line that they can get to, but not cross, so they won’t sin. Youth do this alot when it comes to dating. They ask, “How far is too far?” The question is, “Is it holy?” When you ask how far, you are asking how close can I come to the sin without actually sinning. Carrying this a little farther, we can say that we are asking “How far away from God can I live without actually being too far?” Shouldn’t the question be, “How close can I get to God?” When we ask the “Is it holy?” question we are living our lives from the point of view that I want to draw close to God. If whatever it is does not do that, I don’t want to do that. The closer you live to a cliff, the greater the chance that you will fall off of that cliff and be crushed on the ground below. When you seek to live far from the cliff, your chances of falling off decrease tremendously. The cliff is still there, you are just not in a position to fall off of it.
I think many of us, as believers, are looking too much like the world because we are operating from this mindset. How much can we enjoy the world, live like the world, look like the world, and not become the world. Let’s try the opposite thinking of seeing how different from the world we can become!
Just a thought.
Things have been crazy lately, but God has blessed, as He always does, and we now have another girl living with us! (I was wondering if anyone can tell me how the addition of one person can increase the laundry load by a factor of ten??) We are having a wonderful time together and everyone is adjusting well.
Several things in the last couple of days have made me think about family, and, more specifically, the spiritual family that reminded me again of how wonderful it is to be a believer in a giant family. All of this with our new family member has been amazing! I have had people praying with us and rejoicing with us, it is incredible. Then we needed beds, and more family members came through. We need to buy a few things and more brothers and sisters have come through for the extra stuff. It is more than that, though. I went out delivering flyers and was talking with some children in the neighborhood. A concerned mother came out and when I introduced myself and that I was with the church, a big smile come over her face and she talked like we were old friends (or relatives). That happened more than once. Another man came out of his house as I was passing by and I introduced myself. He just started talking to me about how he had gotten away from God and how he needed to come back to Him and we talked and I encouraged him (strangers until we learned about our relationship in Christ). Monday, Karon and I were visiting and we went to a house and knocked on the door. A neighbor came and looked at us and told us nobody was home so we talked to him. When we each found out we were believers, it was like a family reunion and all we could talk about was the Lord. Karon met a lady at camp “War Eagle” (sorry, I didn’t mean to cuss on the porch) and she said that the lady had lost a child three years ago and both of them wept together and they had only known each other a few minutes (long enough to discover they were sisters in Christ).
I am so very thankful that God has reminded me of this. It seems that I have been a Christian so long that I have taken it for granted. I was thinking that non-believers don’t have that connection, that extended family, and it makes me sad. It is not that we are better, but Christ has given us a very special gift that we need to appreciate, cultivate, and share.