But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy
faith… —Jude 20
“Most of us develop our Christianity along the lines of our
own nature, not along the lines of God’s nature. […] Discipleship is built
entirely on the supernatural grace of God. […] it [requires] the supernatural
grace of God to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint, going through
drudgery, and living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a
disciple of Jesus. It is ingrained in
us that we have to do exceptional things for God— but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the
ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among
ordinary people— and this is not learned in five minutes.” CHAMBERS
Bringing glory to God by living the ordinary life. Is that something that you see as somehow less
spiritual than the person who goes to a distant land to face adversity and
hardship in his service to the Lord? It
is not a matter of “what” you do that makes something spiritually significant. It is a matter of how and why you do it. Is God at the center of whatever you are
doing. When I attended my 20th
class reunion, some years ago, I was chatting with a high school buddy. Vocation became the subject of discussion, as
it inevitably does with guys. When he
discovered what I was doing, a major in the Army who flies helicopters, he told
me what he did, working for Caterpillar Tractor, in an apologetic way. Like
somehow he was less of a man because of what I did compared to what he did.
Frankly that irritated me a little so I asked him a few questions. Are you
feeding your family? Are they healthy? Are
they happy? Do you have a house to live in?
Then I said, “Don’t apologize for being responsible in the way you take
care of your family.” We do the same things as Christians. Our commonality is the need to walk in
obedience to God, no matter what He might call us to. If you compare yourself to other Christians,
you are self-focused .. not Christ-focused.
So stop it and focus on walking in obedience and bringing glory to Him,
no matter what God puts your hand to, no matter where you are. ELGIN
(1 Corinthians 12: 12-15,18-22,27)
“Just as a body, though one, has many
parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were
all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles,
slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body
is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, “Because I
am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop
being part of the body. […] But in fact God has placed the parts in the body,
every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part,
where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye
cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the
feet, “I don’t need you!” On the
contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, […]
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)
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