The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith
To Worship God, part 4
Each day we make many choices – when to get up, what clothes to wear, which way to go to work (or school), what to eat, when and where to go shopping, which gas station to stop at, and what we do during “leisure” time. Even the smallest choices have repercussions. For instance, one of my daily choices is when to go to the mailbox to pick up our mail. If I go too early I will have wasted my time because there will be no mail in our box.
There is not a morally “right” or “wrong” time for me to go to the mailbox. It is simply inconvenient to have to return later. But there are many other choices in our daily lives that do have moral consequences. For example, while preparing our income tax forms, we choose whether to cheat on our income taxes or not. Women, especially, choose whether to wear provocative clothing or modest clothing. What we listen to, read, and watch are choices that also have moral significance.
Galatians 6:7-10 warns us of the consequences of our choices: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.”
As Christians we are servants of God. Therefore, we are responsible to do God’s will. That is worship! Galatians 1:10b asks the question “… do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” At the beginning of most of their epistles, Paul, Timothy, James, Peter, and Jude called themselves “the servant of God” as examples of what our lives in Christ should be. As servants of God, we are called to subordinate our desires, choices, and emotions to God’s leading and direction. As 1 Peter 5:5-7 explains, “God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon Him; for He cares for you.”
Our biblical goal is to live our lives under God’s control. When we talk to God throughout our day, seeking His direction and responding to His leading, we are exactly where we need to be in order to serve Him. This choice to be the worshipful servants God wants us to be places us in the right time, the right place, and with the right mindset to do His will. For instance, quite often I meet other people at the array of mailboxes. These boxes serve some one hundred eight households in my neighborhood. Do I share the gospel with each of these people? Not always, but I have in the past. I have also met acquaintances at the mailboxes with whom I have chatted, encouraged, and prayed on the spot. But if I were to go even minutes earlier or later, the people God wants me to interact with, my “divine appointments”, would not be there.
Our biblical purpose to give God the glory should direct our every choice. God looks for the fruit of righteousness and obedience in each of our lives. “…The God of all grace, who has called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 5:10-11).
Update/Prayer Request: We are grateful for God’s protection yesterday as we traveled through blizzard conditions for Dan’s 8th infusion. As a result of additional research, the company that manufactures Opdivo has changed the rate at which the infusion is injected. It now takes only thirty minutes instead of an hour for the therapy to be completed each time. Also, Dan’s pain was much less yesterday than it has been during his previous infusions. Praise God! Thank you for your continued prayer for Dan’s complete healing.
