Everything you do

I struggle with feelings of insignificance.  What do I do that is important or worthwhile?  Because I like to try and be both therapist and patient, I ask myself what is something that is purposeful.   I think maybe a job would be helpful.  Or maybe volunteering would help fill this seeming void.  Then I realize nothing I of which I think would make me feel purposeful.  While I would be busier, I certainly wouldn't feel any more significant simply because I was filing, maintaining databases, or directing calls.

Recently, I decided to volunteer at the Creation Museum for a day.  I was all excited!  My parents have volunteered there in the past, so I was anticipating maybe a day's work in the gardens, or perhaps being in the office and helping send out mailings to donors.  I anticipated something bright, pretty, and maybe a little fun.  Instead, I was assigned to work in the hot, lonely, windowless cash room where I sat, locked in, and rolled coins for 6 hours.  Thankfully they have a machine that counts out the coins, and all I had to do was dump the appropriate coins in and then make sure the funnel and wrapper were all lined up properly.  "Monotonous" best described that job.  As I sat listening to the endless rattle of change, I became determined to amuse myself.  I decided to sing inside my head since at least four cameras were trained on me, and I didn't want to pain security too much.  I ran through several different hymns and quickly turned to popular Christian music.  Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your view of things, I starting mentally playing Steven Curtis Chapman's song "Do Everything."  I repeated an endless loop of a portion of the chorus "it all matters just as long as you do everything you do to the glory of the one who made you, 'cause He made you to do everything you do the glory of the one..." for the next 4 hours.  I wish I at least remembered the rest of the song so I didn't have to repeat the same few words over and over again.  It helped, though.  I wasn't discouraged.  I knew that what I was doing was important simply because I was doing it to the best of my ability.  I still felt rather sad at the end of the day because I didn't feel like I'd accomplished anything as people were dropping off that day's worth of coins from their cash boxes.  It is a never ending job!  I am happy I was able to relieve the full-time lady from having to do that for a day, though, so she could focus on her other duties.

In daily life, I have found this song and, more importantly, the Scripture verses, to be helpful.  There's not much glory to folding laundry.  There's even less in cleaning the bathroom.  Practically, yes, these things are wonderful, but when people ask, "So, what did you do today?" and the answer is, "Well...I finally found and removed the source of that nasty mystery smell in the refrigerator..." you don't feel like the most exciting or relevant person.  But, the point is, we all are appointed for or do different tasks.  They might seem inglorious from our perspectives, but everything we do brings glory to God.  Essentially the stuff we do here on earth is done for Him.  We are all caretakers in some way or another, and our work glorifies Him.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10:31


And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Colossians 3:17

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.  It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Colossians 3:23-24

Seeing the Bible in a New Light--Despite not Seeing/Hearing Philip Mantofa

I opened my Bible today to read the assigned chapter for this weeks homegroup.  I began reading the meaty Luke 15  (actually, I started with Luke 20 because I remembered incorrectly, but it all worked out because they tied in well together).  As I started the chapter, I was struck with a realization.  The Bible is God's love letter to His people!  I've heard something to this extent several times before, but today it struck me as real.  God is revealing His thoughts and character to me!  And He tells and shows His love for me, and gives me guidance, direction, and conviction when necessary.  I continued reading into chapter 16 and parts of 17 and realized I had some chores to get  done before I needed to leave. But, how could I walk away from God's Word--especially now that I see it in a new light?!  I skimmed a few more verses and set down my Bible.  While I emptied the dishwasher, I remembered I can take God with me! I have His Holy Spirit in me.  I can talk to and with Him.  And I can call upon memorized verses for encouragement, etc.  So, while time with my Bible is lovely and wonderful and necessary, I abide in Christ and abides Christ in me!

It is good to make new realizations and be reminded of old ones.

Will do Works for____?

Lately, I have been contemplating why I try to be "good" and "moral."  My thoughts stemmed from several conversations I have had with people who do good things, yet are atheists.  In many of these cases, I looked at their lives and assumed they were Christians based off their actions.  They were honorable people, hard workers, and seemed to have a genuine concern about others. When I found out they weren't followers of Christ, I was initially surprised.  Typically, as I got to know them better, I realized I shouldn't have been surprised.  This has gotten me thinking.  Why do people do good things?  Some might say to promote the good of society.  Others might say because it is the right thing to do.  And others would say because their religion dictates it.

James 2:17, 26: "Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." (in context)

Then my question returns to myself.  Why do I attempt to behave in a good way?

I would like to think my answer would be because it is proof of my faith living in me.  But how often is it that instead of simply doing what I know I have to do to be considered "good?"  If works are "proof" or "fruit" of my faith, shouldn't they be done without my thinking I should do them?  Shouldn't they come naturally?  But what about when I make myself do something good?   I suppose it is all about attitude.  If I do something I don't want want to do because I am trying to express Christ rather than make myself look good or mold myself into a better, more self-actualized, and societal being, I assume it would be an expression of faith rather than a selfish act.  But then, how does one go about doing something as an expression of Christ rather than dolefully saying "well, the Bible says I have to do it this way, so I guess I have to..."  Perhaps the latter is not such a bad thing initially if we are fighting sinful flesh with spiritual self-discipline.

I also suppose another main thing is motivation.  Is my desire to be "good" or to be "Christ-like?"  Am I trying to be shiny and pretty on the outside?  Or am I trying to express my soul that has been purged clean from the inside out?  If I am simply trying to be "good" because it is right and what people expect from me, that is wrong.  I need to stand on the foundation of Christ, and then my actions should follow as godly because I am desiring to stay on that foundation and follow the narrow halls built on it.

I cannot be good on my own.  In this life, perfection is out of the question.  But Christ washes away my sins and instills His Holy Spirit inside of me to guide me.  I should focus on following Christ rather than trying so hard to look like I am doing it right--that is when I fall the most anyway.

⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:8-10 

The Point

The biblical perspective, where false teachers and and false teachings are concerned, is that we are to have compassion and love for those who are enmeshed in the teachings of the false prophets, but we are to vigorously oppose the teachings, with our primary objective the winning of the soul and not so much the argument.  It must never be forgotten that cultists are souls for whom Jesus Christ died...(pg. 23)

The Kingdom of the Cults: The Definitive Work on the Subject 

by Walter Martin, Ravi Zacharias, general editor. 

God has an interesting way of presenting currently relevant information to you.  I had a conversation about debating the morality of something with a non-Christian.  Then this popped up later in my reading.  It didn't apply to the situation exactly, but it said what I was trying to convey.  Coming up with the perfect argument (a "zinger") shouldn't be our goal, but pushing people to evaluate their position and hopefully seek a right relationship with Christ is what is important.  Debates can be fun and beneficial, but getting an agnostic to accept something like "abortion is wrong" won't matter much on Judgement Day.

"Marry" Christmas

While I am certainly not above them, I have the blessing/curse of seeing misspellings, homonym errors, and punctuation problems. This can be either a good or bad thing.  It is certainly good when proofing papers. However, it can be a drawback when I read wishes from old friends of "Marry Christmas" and cannot move beyond the first word.  Sometimes I like to think about word-misuses as intentional, especially in cases such as these.  So I asked myself, "What could it mean to 'marry Christmas?'"

For the past several years, I have had difficulty getting in the Christmas spirit.  The first year, I blamed this on the fact I was in college full-time and no one can possibly feel Christmassy over homework and finals (well, maybe one or two people can). The next year was the first Christmas since my Grandpa's death, I was busy house-sitting up until the day before Christmas Eve, and I was in college after a personally rough semester. This year was little better despite my hope for feeling the Christmas magic again.  I had little external distraction and could dedicate myself to Christmas stuff as much as I desired.  And yet, I was still surprised when I realized Christmas was only a few days away.  I just didn't feel it.

After contemplating my lack of Christmas spirit, I returned to thinking about the commanding message I received.  How could it apply to my life? Why did I feel my Christmas happiness was so contingent on my environment?  Isn't the true reason for the season alive in my heart?  Perhaps the way to marry Christmas is to devote--dedicate--fully to the meaning of Christmas.  The love of God.  God sent His Son, Christ, to be our Savior.  The glory of this moment, a true celebration of it, should work from the inside out into our environment.  My Christmas tree, the decorations outside, presents, or even my nativity will not provide a Christmas spirit.  I need to feel the joy in my heart first.  Marry myself to feeling and spreading the awesomeness of God and His gift to us.

Perhaps the misspellings were not misspellings after all.

Merry Christmas, everyone!  And best wishes for the new year.

The Great Romance (yeah, I've been reading the Circle Series)

You walk into a room, and a smile creeps onto your face.  There she is.  Your eyes meet, and she smiles and walks toward you.  You ask how she is, and your conversation flows in low tones.  Everything seems perfect.   Then he enters the room.  Her voice trails off as her gaze follows him.  Your heart sinks. She continues listening and distractedly adds to your conversation.  You try to hold her interest, but she excuses herself from your conversation and crosses the room to meet him.  You watch, downcast and concerned.  They begin talking, and she seems shy at first, glancing over her shoulder in your direction occasionally.  As those looks become less frequent, he grasps her hand.  She starts speaking with animation and awards him with such smiles you've only wished she would display for you.  Your heart aches, not simply because she has devoted to another, but because he is not worthy of her.  He will never fulfill her and will eventually leave her feeling empty and alone, forced to find another relationship.  How can you make this clear to her and win her back?


Something similar to this has likely happened to you.  Most people have some instance of unrequited love or affection.  Many have been in the situation of loving someone who they felt loved them at first but slowly slipped away towards someone who is not right for them. And you are left wondering if s/he ever cared to begin with, if you will win him/her back, and if your heart will ever heal.  This experience is definitely temporally painful, and I believe God feels it far more intensely when his children dedicate themselves to other gods. God is jealous for us.  He is El Qanna.   When we begin devoting ourselves to other gods--whether they be an actual idol, or a god of education, god of money, god of attention, or a sex god like the one to which the Israelites turned--He seeks to win us back to Him.

  ¹⁴ “ Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness, And speak comfort to her.  ¹⁵ I will give her her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; She shall sing there, As in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. ¹⁶ “ And it shall be, in that day,” Says the LORD, “ That you will call Me ‘My Husband,’ And no longer call Me ‘My Master,’ ¹⁷ For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals, And they shall be remembered by their name no more. ¹⁸ In that day I will make a covenant for them With the beasts of the field, With the birds of the air, And with the creeping things of the ground. Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, To make them lie down safely.

 ¹⁹ “ I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy; ²⁰ I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the LORD."

 Hosea 2:14-20

This Christmas, let us make sure to focus on God.  Ask Him to show you in what areas you might have "stepped out."  He alone can help you turn back to Him.