Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Posted by
Genesis Ministries
comments (0)
In vain is your earlier rising, your going later to rest, you who toil for the bread you eat; when he pours gifts on his beloved while they slumber. Psalm 127:2
We work harder and longer hours than ever before, trying to make ends meet, trying to live up to some standard set by some person we don't even know. We do all this to what end? The cry in Ecclesiastes comes to mind - "Vanity of vanities!" What does all this toiling accomplish? Is it even toiling or idle busyness that keeps us occupied all hours of the day and night? Television, internet, even books and socializing to some extent, can distract us from what we really need.
Where are we making time to rest in the Lord? It seems absurd in a culture obsessed with "doing" that sleeping might actually be a time for the Lord. Yet, studies continue to show that it is essential for our health that we provide ourselves that rest, that time of rebuilding physically - so why is it so outlandish to think that is a time for rebuilding spiritually as well? God often comes to us in our dreams, and God can work in us however and whenever He wishes. It just might be that it is easier for Him to do His work when we have finally stopped doing what we think is our work.
As we work today, pray that our work might be an outward use of the gifts God has given us to share, that our work may be rooted and strengthened by the work God is doing in us. And tonight, let's give ourselves a little more time to rest in and with the Lord...
We work harder and longer hours than ever before, trying to make ends meet, trying to live up to some standard set by some person we don't even know. We do all this to what end? The cry in Ecclesiastes comes to mind - "Vanity of vanities!" What does all this toiling accomplish? Is it even toiling or idle busyness that keeps us occupied all hours of the day and night? Television, internet, even books and socializing to some extent, can distract us from what we really need.
Where are we making time to rest in the Lord? It seems absurd in a culture obsessed with "doing" that sleeping might actually be a time for the Lord. Yet, studies continue to show that it is essential for our health that we provide ourselves that rest, that time of rebuilding physically - so why is it so outlandish to think that is a time for rebuilding spiritually as well? God often comes to us in our dreams, and God can work in us however and whenever He wishes. It just might be that it is easier for Him to do His work when we have finally stopped doing what we think is our work.
As we work today, pray that our work might be an outward use of the gifts God has given us to share, that our work may be rooted and strengthened by the work God is doing in us. And tonight, let's give ourselves a little more time to rest in and with the Lord...
Posted by
Genesis Ministries
comments (0)
But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 (NRSV)
God tends to turn the world upside down, topsy turvy. Now, He's God, so He can. We create our own standards, and then God steps in to show us just how wrong we've gotten it. Sound familiar? It is so easy to get caught up in the "rules" of our world and culture that we can forget that God measures on very different standards than most of our neighbors. Especially in our culture, we are surrounded by messages that tell us that what matters are very superficial things. How much we make, what we wear, where we live, how big and fast our cars are, how "successful" we are at work - those are the questions and judgments we so often get. Yet, God shows us through Jesus that it isn't about what WE do. The disciples were not learned men of the era. They were fishermen, tax collectors, sinners just like us. Yet, in them, Jesus found his closest companions and those to whom he would entrust the future of his mission.
In my own life, one of the most powerful things anyone ever said to me was that, "God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called." How true it is if we examine the early Church. How true it remains if we truly look at our own lives. Not a day goes by that I don't feel [insert word here] to do what I am asked to do. Yet, even in those moments...especially in those moments, God sends confirmation that I am doing all He has asked me to do...if I really am, of course!
Do we judge our worth through God's eyes, or are we all too self-satisfied?
In my own life, one of the most powerful things anyone ever said to me was that, "God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called." How true it is if we examine the early Church. How true it remains if we truly look at our own lives. Not a day goes by that I don't feel [insert word here] to do what I am asked to do. Yet, even in those moments...especially in those moments, God sends confirmation that I am doing all He has asked me to do...if I really am, of course!
Do we judge our worth through God's eyes, or are we all too self-satisfied?
