confidence in the eternal
“For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty saviour. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” (Zeph 3:17)
As we all enjoy the change of pace over December/January, may we hear the song of delight, gladness and love that the Lord sings over us. And because of this gladness and singing, may we pivot the way we judge ‘work’. Serving can have a poor reputation in our minds but the Lord redeems the time, meaning our work is joyful before God (Col 4:5, Eph 5:16) by:
Working willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. (Col 3:23)
Work is redeemed by faith. Work is not for our benefit alone, but first for the Lord. The attitude we are called to have is simple - everything we do is for the Lord. To do our best is to do our best for the Lord. The verse says ‘Whatever you do’ – pretty much covering everything but that idea also keeps our hearts safe in everyway! A secret to life is to remember not just the reason or purpose for what we do, but to keep our presence of mind on theO we serve. Knowing who we serve changes everything (Matt 25:31-46)!
Appreciating this helps us to avoid becoming weary, both in our rest and in our work. The Lord encourages us further with purpose – that the good in everything we do in His name contributes to a harvest.
So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. (Gal 6:9)
Focusing on the good things means we need to make a deliberate choice to turn to the instruction of God’s Word which tells us to look at those things that are eternal, and not to the things that are temporal.
Eternal things have to do with both life and reward beyond this present life. Temporal things can be seen but they only relate to this present life, they are constantly changing, unreliable and will not last for long. May we seek always eternal first:
Crown of righteousness (2 Tim 4:8)
Crown of life (Jam 1:12)(Rev 2:10)
An eternal prize (1 Cor 9:25)
An eternal life (Jn 10:28)(Rom 5:21)(Tit 3:7)
An eternal body (2 Cor 5:1-5)
Our rewards are eternal things (Rev 21:4)
Crown and honour (1 Pet 5:4)
An eternal family (Lk 18:29-30)
A prepared future (1 Cor 2:9-10)(Jn 14:2-3)
Ben Bonython