Faithfulness In Those Little Things.

I've been thinking a lot about faithfulness.  About being faithful in the little things.  You know, the little things we do everyday; school work, chores, practicing music, and the list goes on.   Many times we overlook these things. We skim over them as unimportant.

We can get excited about doing the "big" things; the things that "hold significance." As young people, we can't wait until we can have our first job, go on a missions trip, go to college, serve in "ministry", or other "big" things like that.  There is nothing wrong with these things.  In fact, we should want to do these things, if it's according to the will of God.

But sometimes, I think that we get so caught up wanting to do those "big" things that we forget the important ministries that the Lord has given to right now.   We long for the day when we can serve the Lord as a missionary, but we complain about helping Mom in the kitchen.  We can't wait until we can get our first job, but we are lazy in our chores and helping Dad with projects.  We look forward to post-highschool education, but we don't excel in our studies in school.  We love serving in the church's nursery, but we don't find time to read a book or play with our little siblings.

Are we being faithful in the ministries and jobs the Lord has given to us? Or are we constantly longing to do something "bigger"? Let's not overlook the vital positions God has given to us in our homes.   We have the opportunity to serve and bless our families, encourage and disciple our siblings, develop our world-views and characters, learn valuable skills that will be with us for the rest of our lives, and much more.  If we don't do these things faithfully, how will we ever excel in whatever else the Lord may have in store for us?

Let's be content and thrive right where God's placed us.  Let's not hasten to go on to "bigger" things, but let's excel in the little things that God has given us to do right now.  They might seem insignificant, but they hold great value when they're done to the praise and glory of God.

May Jesus say of us:

"Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things."

"He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.  Therefore is you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?" Luke 16:10-12

"A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished"

Proverbs 28:20

  

Looking forward to His coming

Several days ago, I was reading a blog and found this quote:

“To wait is not merely to remain impassive. It is to expect—to look for with patience, and also with submission. It is to long for, but not impatiently; to look for, but not to fret at the delay; to watch for, but not restlessly; to feel that if He does not come we will acquiesce, and yet to refuse to let the mind acquiesce in the feeling that He will not come.”
-Andrew Davidson

Doesn't that summarize 2 Peter 3 beautifully? 

2 Peter 3:8-14--But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?  Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you.

Reading that quote made 2 Peter 3 come alive for me...that's what we're supposed to be doing!  Our time on earth isn't supposed to be passively waiting--we need to look forward to it, diligently prepare for it, hasten His coming.  Isn't that an exciting thought?  The King of the universe is going to come again, and we get to see Him! 

P.S.  I never read anything else by Andrew Davidson, so I'm not sure if I agree with everything he's written...but I really liked that quote!

Is the Word in you?

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”(that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:8-9).

Does that passage excite you? We hear the second verse quite frequently, but what about the first verse–have you ever thought twice about it?

The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. That’s the reason we are doing Bible Bee! Why else bother memorizing hundreds of verses? If we simply wanted to exercise our brains over the summer, we could put together a challenging book list or take an extra course for school. The Bible would still be very accessible to us. All we have to do is enter a key word on http://biblegateway.com/ and come up with 273 answers, some of which are more relevant than others. As helpful as it is to have every verse reference of the word “love” come up with one click (there are 494 in the NKJV), I would rather have just one of those written in my heart.

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:10-11

Skimming over that verse and copying here didn’t change me. I want to have that verse near me; I want it in my heart! That verse is life-changing! God loves me, and He sent His Son to save me! Because of His love to me, I need to love others. I want to be able to answer yes to Paul–to say “Yes! The word is near me, it is in my mouth and in my heart!”

We are now officially past the 1/4 point in our Bible Bee studies. It’s about the time when that little voice in you head starts saying, “What?! Still 75% to go? Maybe next summer I’ll take a break from Bible memory and actually get my life back!” Please remember why we are studying! God’s Word has the power to change lives, but you must have it near you–in your heart–before it will change your life!

If you are getting discouraged and feel like you’re wasting time memorizing Bible verses, may I ask you a question? If Jesus died for you, don’t you think you ought to live every minute of your life to Him?

He is Faithful

I've been mediating a lot about God's faithfulness recently. Here are just a few verses that have encouraged me:

1 Corinthians 10:13, "No temptation has over-taken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it."

2 Thessalonians 3:3, "But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one."

And finally this one, which I read today in my Bible time. It jumped right off the page at me!

2 Timothy 2:11-13, " This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him. If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself."

These passed few weeks, I've been reading through Paul's letters to the churches and individuals. He exhorts the people to stay strong in the faith, to root themselves in Christ, to do Christ's service wholeheartedly. He reminds them to fulfill the calling to which Christ called them. But Paul knows that we can't do this perfectly, although perfection is our standard. He knows that we will fall and sin. So, he puts in these wonderful encouragements to us; God is faithful. He will continue to work in us and continue to conform us into His image. He will always be faithful no matter how much we sin. He remains faithful. Isn't that just awesome?!

This truth about our God should inspire us to grow in our faithfulness to Him. It should motivate us to follow Him with all our hearts, souls, and minds.

"Through Lord's mercies we are not consumed because His compassion fails not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness!" Lamentations 3:22-23.

Blessings!