I want to share something with you that keeps coming up with me lately. It keeps coming up in prayer time, both concerning myself and the church as a whole, and I am continually reminded of it in opportunities to serve, to give, to bless others, and even to do mundane daily tasks. It is the concept of excellence in serving God.
A few years ago I first heard a teaching about the relationship that God has established between Himself and us. Since then, my understanding of this relationship continues to grow and develop. I have heard several such teachings since then, and it seems like I find myself thinking about this a lot.
So here's the gist of the foundation of what I'm getting at:
Yes, God is a sovereign God. Yes, He is capable of all things, and with Him nothing is impossible. BUT.... He has set up His master plan - His plan A, with no plan B - so that He works with us and through us. He needs us to do our part so that He can do His. And often, He will not do our part for us. We must do our part so that He can do His.
Like I said, lately I've been thinking about this a lot. The foundation of our relationship with God, and of all that we are to accomplish here on earth, is that we have a part to play in order for God's will and plan to be carried out. How good is my foundation? Is it solid and whole, strong and sturdy? Or is it cracked and crumbling, uneven and shaky? In building a house, the quality of a foundation determines the quality of the structure that can be built on that foundation. The same principal applies to our acts of service to God.
I have been challenged in almost every area of my life over the past few months. Am I serving with excellence? Giving with excellence? Doing daily tasks with excellence? How is my attitude? What about my follow-through? My willingness to do something unto God alone, something that will go wholly unnoticed by man? How do I treat people? How is my heart condition and the quality of attention given to God in my prayer time? Am I doing just enough, meeting the requirements and checking tasks off of my to-do list? Or am I living out a life of worship, a life that pours all of me into everything, so that I might please Him? Am I giving Him something good to work with? Or am I giving Him mid-grade, middle-of-the-road, plain and average offerings of service, worship, prayer, giving, etc.?
As I've examined areas of my life against this standard of excellence, I have been convicted by the Holy Spirit to take responsibility for every thing that I do and say. I have been challenged to increase my level of excellence in areas where I was taking a just-get-by approach. I do this not because my works earn me something from God, but because the quality of my offering means something to God. And because when I am giving my everything to Him, in the best way I can, then the part He has given me to do is done to the fullest, which gives Him a quality foundation to build on.
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