Colossions 3: 23 - 25 NKJV
We've all had that experience before. That experience where we feel that the job we're working is well below our talents and abilities. "I should be in charge by now!" we all too often tell ourselves. Hey, bro, I've been there. I can recall taking a walk one night after getting home from work and going over in my own mind just what I was going to tell my supervisor the following day when I went into that office and quit my job. What I should have been more worried about was why I was abandoning one job before I had secured a replacement for it. Fortunately, I never quit that job and I went on to have a good little stint there. Why didn't I quit when I was so damn sure that the job wasn't for me? Well, someone told me not so long ago stuck in my mind. "Are you doing the best that you can?" Granted it's not the single most motivational speech of all time, but it got me thinking. Was I indeed doing the best that I could? If I was, then no matter what happened I could rest in the assurance that I had done all that I could. However, if I had left some stone unturned in my endeavor, then didn't I owe it to myself to do better? Perhaps, but all too often we don't give ourselves the luxury of the discomfort of going through something that will test us. I mention luxury and discomfort in the same sentence to make a point. Far too often, change comes as a result of doing something we may enjoy or dislike repeatedly. They say that in order to develop a habit that it takes a good thirty days. That's thirty days of doing whatever it is that you're trying to develop into a habit. Be it exercise (come on, it's time for those New Years resolutions once again), work habits or our own daily scripture reading, it takes repetition to create and develop a habit. Yes, you may be trying to develop a habit for something you don't like doing. Do you have what it takes to endure the discomfort you'll face as you develop that habit? For me, I dislike exercise. That doesn't mean that I hate it, I just dislike it. So, in order for me to cross that Rubicon and create a habit which was good for me, I had to endure some discomfort. I still have my moments where I doubt that decision. As I say, there is no luxury without at least some discomfort.
17And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Colossions 3: 17 NKJV
Unless you're Donald Trump, you more than likely know the discomfort of saving for something you need or desire. That is the discomfort that will eventually bring the luxury. We endure the discomfort of saving because we see the end goal of purchasing something we desire. Like I said, unless you're the Donald, you're probably used to shopping for big ticket items that way. So, am I ultimately doing the best that I possibly can in this life? Well, that is for my heavenly Father to decide. However, I feel like I haven't done all too bad. How many of us can say that with confidence? I can tell you of one man who could claim with the utmost confidence that He was doing the best that He possibly could and that is Christ Jesus. See, Jesus knew He was doing the right thing because He was only doing the will of His own Father who sent Him. How can a man go wrong with doing what God Himself desires? Did Jesus have discomfort? Consider the mocking, insults and scourging that He ultimately endured. Why would a man endure this punishment for me? { 2 Corinthians 5:21} What was, or is, that luxury of the punishment endured by Jesus on our behalf? Yes, He died to cleanse our sins, but there was something more at stake here. I believe that the luxury Jesus claimed for the punishment He received was that those He gave Himself for would be one with The Father as He was {John 17:21}. So, how is it that we can see the discomforts which we so often go through. Well, we can either view them as our permanent station in life or as our stepping stones to a greater glory which we shall partake in. It's taken a long time, but I do not see the discomforts of my own life as a indication of who it is I am or how my own life has played out. On the contrary, this vessel which Christ Jesus lives through in me today is but a temporary dwelling {2 Corinthians 5:4}. A temporary dwelling, one that we shall one day gladly shed for the revelation of our true image in Christ {Galations 2:20}. This is the luxury we have through the discomfort of Christ Jesus. For He did not endure this for His own benefit, but for ours. We did the best we could.
1For we know that if our earthly ahouse, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 6So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7For we walk by faith, not by sight.
2 Corinthians 5: 1 - 7 NKJV
~Scott~
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