God has been preparing you for this and preparing this for you since the day you were born. He hard-wired things into your DNA, brought about circumstances in your life, nurtured your skills and strengths, put the right people around you, and brought it all together to deploy you for eternal good. God doesn’t just send you into the mission; He picked you out and prepared you for it. You were made for this. You know you are supposed to go, but what are you supposed to do when you get there? Use what you have been given to let others see who Jesus is to you and through you. Your unique blend of abilities, experiences, knowledge, opportunities, resources, gifts and strengths were given so you can make Jesus look good with your life! Let them see that He is treasured by you above all other things so they might be intrigued enough to take a closer look and learn to treasure Him too. As Jesus has done for you, do for others so they can see what He is like. Be kind. Provide help. Bear burdens. Speak life. Warn. Encourage. Be patient. Lovingly correct. Forgive often. Serve unselfishly. Give generously. Be a blessing. Never underestimate the power of what God can do through you when you take a small step of faith and make an intentional attempt at loving Him by loving others. Remember this today and every day: you can’t do everything; but you can do something.
Your Hope And Happiness In Jesus On Display
There are one-off instances and ongoing intersections where your life crosses paths with other people, and this is when and where God has sent you on His mission of love. Your schedule is more than a set of appointments or tasks on a timeline; it is the specific place and period of time that God has ordained for you to carry out your calling. For most of us, this simply means showing up and showing others what Jesus is like by being a faithful witness for Him while doing the very things we are scheduled to do and doing the very things He wants us to schedule. We are to let others in, let others see, and let others know why we find our hope and happiness in Jesus while we do our housework or homework, when we work out or cook out, whether we are on the clock or on a vacation. The reason we do whatever we do and all that we do is the same… If we have an audience, it’s showtime. If we have a crowd, it’s game time. If we have an onlooker, it’s prime time. We just need to take time to point people to Jesus in the everyday moments of life by aiming for the answer to one simple question: How would He act if He were there instead of us? Because we are there instead of Him. That’s why He sent us, to represent Him at the right time and the right place. When and where are you to speak for and serve like Jesus? Here and now! Put on your schedule what God has put on your heart.
Your Zip Code Is Not An Accident
Your zip code is not an accident. You live there. You work there. You play there. But God placed you there. He worked in ways that you could never comprehend or calculate to divinely position you right where you are at this very moment and this very season. Life didn’t just take you there. He did. And He brought you precisely where you are, precisely at this time, precisely to the people around you to represent Jesus to them. There is only one person that every other person in your life has in common, and that person is you. An ambassador for Christ is always FROM someone and TO someone; you are sent from Jesus and sent to the specific people in your life. You are sent to your family, your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers, your teammates, and every other person you find yourself with to share the message of God’s love with them. Who do you know that needs to hear good news? Every. Single. Person. Everyone you know loses their focus, loses their hope, loses their joy and loses their way. It’s a dark world, and you were sent to the people around you to shine His light. All of us living in the brokenness need to be reached with or reminded of the good news of what Jesus has done and promises to do for us. Therefore… Take inventory of those in your life. Take ownership of the reason you’ve been sent. Take action wherever you go, however you can to love others like Jesus.
Anything Else Is Too Small A Thing To Live For
You and I are on earth for a reason, and that reason is this: God has called us by His grace to know and make known Jesus. His perfect life. His atoning sacrifice. His resurrection power. His heart for people. His message of love. His life-transforming hope. His offer of eternal life. His amazing grace. His matchless value. His endless joy. His immeasurable benefits. His imminent return. His incredibly good news. God has graciously transformed our lives and sent us back out to be agents of His transformation in the lives of other people. We are who we are because of what Jesus has done for us; we do what we do because of who we are in Jesus. Christian is the adjective that is to describe and define every category and moment of our lives as we represent Jesus 24/7 to those in our lives. As ambassadors for Christ, we have been summoned into the most important work in the universe to spread the message and ministry of reconciliation as God makes His appeal for the hearts of others through us. The thoughts, feelings, motives, attitudes, words and actions of our lives need to communicate one thing with absolute clarity and certainty: life with Jesus is far better than life without Him, and eternal life is found only through Him. Ultimately, we are after this: Jesus being honored in us and us being happy in Him. Anything else is too small a thing to live for.
You Have Been Blessed; Now Go Be A Blessing
God has not blessed us with time just so we can use it binge-watching Netflix. He has not blessed us with money just so we can spend it on more comforts. He has not blessed us with abilities and skills just so we can serve our own interests and passions. The generosity of God has been extended to us with blessings of time, talent and treasure that we might both enjoy them ourselves and extend them to bless others.
We are to serve God’s kingdom with God’s gifts as long as there is a baby who is hungry, a single mom who is exhausted, a pastor who is about to call it quits, a teen who needs mentoring, a senior citizen who is lonely, a homeless man who needs a coat, a friend with an unpaid utility bill, a co-worker who feels excluded, a person who is unjustly imprisoned, a divorcee who is hurting, a family member who is depressed, a child who needs foster care, a new Christian who needs discipling, a neighbor who can’t mow her lawn, a believer who is suffering, a fellow human being with a need or a lost soul who has never heard of Jesus. Those of us who are trusting in Jesus have been entrusted with showing the world His heart for them by being His hands and feet to them. You have been blessed; now go be a blessing.
It Counts When You Point People To Jesus
You may not realize the influence and impact of your life, but if you are God’s child, He works through you in the normal rhythms at your home, workplace, neighborhood, shopping mall, recreation center and hangouts. Every moment holds the possibility of a conversation to share the good news of how Jesus can change someone’s life. Every moment is a chance to demonstrate the beauty of God’s design for how to do things in all of life. Every moment is an occasion in life to bear the fruit of the Spirit … love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Do you know how God works through your life to change someone else’s life? The everyday moments of life. Don’t think there is no value in the chaos of your life. Don’t believe that your normal life isn’t anything special. Don’t accept the lie that what you do and how you do it doesn’t matter. Don’t give up when your efforts seem fruitless and unappreciated. Don’t be silent about communicating the love of God in both your words and actions. Every moment counts when you live it to point people to Jesus.
It’s Okay To Not Be Okay
It’s okay to not be okay. It’s not okay to stay that way. Self-sufficiency was never a part of God’s design for us. From mankind’s beginning, He purposed that we would be a people who needed help. Help from Him. Help from each other. To those He called to be in the family of God, He also called to live as the family of God in administering His care to one another until the day comes when He will welcome us into our heavenly home, and there will be no more burdens to bear. He calls, gifts, empowers, mobilizes, and sends the church to be the hands, feet, and mouth of Jesus to people inside and outside the family of God. I help you; you help me; we help others; we all look to God for help. That’s what God means to happen. Therefore, the smartest thing we can do when we find ourselves feeling overpowered, overwhelmed or overloaded is to ask for help. If it’s more than you or I can handle alone, that’s God’s way of saying He doesn’t want us to handle it alone.
Our Lives Are About Jesus
It’s easy to be mistaken about this. It’s easy to assume this. It’s easy to believe this. It’s easy to want this. It’s easy to live like this. What is this? The idea that your life is about you. It’s not. The Bible teaches over and over again that your life is about Jesus. For example, 2 Corinthians 5:14,15 says… “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” Who are we to live for? Not ourselves. For Jesus, the One who died for us and was raised for us. Today is a good day to be reminded that you and I should… Exalt Jesus. Proclaim Jesus. Model Jesus. Know Jesus. Serve Jesus. Praise Jesus. Believe Jesus. Seek Jesus. Adore Jesus. Please Jesus. Magnify Jesus. Worship Jesus. Defend Jesus. Treasure Jesus. Follow Jesus. Trust Jesus. Enjoy Jesus. Obey Jesus. Love Jesus. As Christians, everything about our lives is because of Jesus and should be used for Jesus.
Jesus Walks With Us When We Suffer
The people in your life need to see you suffer well, handling hardships with hope because you have Jesus in your life. We shouldn’t try to make-believe our problems aren’t there as if Christians are immune to the brokenness around us, nor make-a-big-production of our problems as if Jesus isn’t there to sustain us. Griping over the trials of life isn’t the solution, but neither is glossing over them. When bad things happen, it is an opportunity to speak honestly about our struggles while showcasing the good things that are ours because of Jesus in spite of those struggles: hope, joy, peace, endurance, strength, courage, guidance, security. It’s only whining if we leave worshipping Jesus out of it. It’s only complaining if we leave celebrating His grace out of it. It’s only pouting if we leave pointing people to His sufficiency out of it. Others need to see and hear our joy-filled, hope-filled, peace-filled confidence in this: He will get us through every test, trial and tribulation until He gets us home. As we walk through seasons of suffering, let us testify to the faithfulness of Jesus in walking with us so others can know, that because grace is available in their own struggles, they never have to walk alone either.
Time Well Spent
Every single grain of sand that falls in the hourglass of your life is a gift from God to be used for good. You can’t regain or recycle what has been used. You can’t get more than what remains. You can’t be sure when the last grain will fall. The days are long, but the years are short; the days drag on, but the years fly by. While there is still time, spend it on the things that matter most, the things that matter for eternity, the things that matter to God. You will never regret the unwasted life of prioritizing, pursuing and proclaiming Jesus to a darkened world that desperately needs the light you can hold out to it. What immeasurable bliss awaits when the last grain drops, and you hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Master.” Until that day arrives, don’t put off until another day what God has given you to do with this day. Live every day as if it were your last one on earth; someday if will be.
God Doesn’t Need Us, But People Do
God doesn’t need us to do anything for Him as if He could ever be deficient in some area that we could supply for Him. But our family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, teammates, and complete strangers do need us to do for them. Not because God is failing to meet their needs, and we should make up for His oversight or indifference, but rather because in His loving providence, He has sent us to bring His aid to them. God puts us in places where needy people are right in front of us so we can be like Jesus to them by offering a helping hand, a guiding word, and a loving embrace. His hands. His words. His love. Delivered through us.
Helping Others Take Their Next Step With Jesus
God has divinely positioned you so that your life intersects with others for the purpose of helping them take the next step in their spiritual journey. You have access and influence and opportunity to shape the lives of the people you know for everyday and eternal good as God works through you. One of the greatest aims of your life should be that the people in your life grow in their relationship with Jesus because of their relationship with you.
Encouraging One Another To Follow Jesus
Every Christian faces the ever-present danger of distraction, frustration and temptation to become preoccupied with things that don’t matter, things that don’t satisfy and things that don’t last. Everywhere we look are messages that point us in the wrong direction away from God. That’s one of the reasons why God wired us for Christian community: to help each other keep the faith and keep our focus.
We must continually encourage one another to follow Jesus because the world is continually encouraging us not to follow Him.
Nothing You Do For God Is Ever Wasted
The enemy wants to convince you that God isn’t using your life to make much of a difference in this world. He wants to bring you down so he can shut you down. But remember that nothing good you do for others in the name of Jesus is ever wasted. So, don’t give in or give up! Keep doing what you were made to do even when it is hard, unpopular, tiring, inconvenient, thankless, lonely or unnoticed. God is working through you to make a difference that will ripple into and throughout eternity!
