Saturday 16 Apr 2011

Saturday Reading: Colossians 3:23-24

Key Verse: Colossians 3:23
23  And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men;

Devotion:
How many times have you done something for someone else just to keep them happy? How many times have you gone out and done something for someone that you would not normally do to make that person happy? We all like to keep some people happy in our lives whether it be our partners, perspective partners, friends, family or just someone special; we do things that will please them because that makes us feel better. Whilst I could never say that that would be a bad thing we do have to remember just who we serve in the end because we can very quickly lose sight of our Lord when we get caught up in doing things for others.

That is something that I have always found difficult in my life – trying to do things for others whilst still keeping in line with what God would have me do! Why? Because when we focus on doing something for others we do lose sight of our focus on God. If we are not careful we may well find ourselves focusing on people who do not serve God or who are rejecting God. When we do that we start to fall in line with the things that they do and not what God has had us doing all along. You may think that you are strong enough to resist that sort of thing and that you would be able to turn them round to be with God before they turned you away from God. That is when we find that doing things for others then conflicts with doing things for God!

If we want to please others then we should be trying to do for them what God would want you to do for them and not what you want to do for them! If we keep God in our focus and keep Him in our minds then doing things for others becomes easy but we also do not lose sight of God. Try not to look at it as how much you can do for others but look at it as being how much can you fulfil God’s will in doing things for others. As long as you give God the glory for all that He allows you to do for others then you will be taking God with you wherever you go.

Points to Ponder:
Do you like helping others?

How much do you do for God?