Wednesday 18 Apr 2012

Wednesday Reading: Philippians 2:14-16

Key Verse: Philippians 2:16
16  Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

Devotion:
What sort of attitude do you have when someone asks you to do something that yu enjoy doing? And what sort of attitude does that turn into when you are asked to do something that you do not like doing? Most of us will have to admit that we do have issues with being asked to do things that we do not like – after all why should we do them if we do not like doing them!

But no matter how close a walk we have with Christ there is always going to be a time when He does ask us to do something that we do not look forward to doing. How we handle that situation will be down to our attitude that we have for accomplishing God’s Work in our lives. There is nothing that He is going to ask of us that He does not already know that we are capable of doing or bearing. He has, after all, promised us that He will not make us do things that He knows we cannot do (1 Corinthians 10:13). But He also reminds us that there are going to be things ahead of us that are more than what we have to take care of now (1 Corinthians 3:2).

God is Just. He is honest. He is perfect. He knows what we can and cannot do, but He is also very aware of the things that we like and do not like doing. There are going to be times when we have to face up to doing things that we do not want to just because someone has to do them. Jesus did not relish the idea of having to go to the cross for us. Can you imagine what He actually would think of us if we never turn round to thank Him or to acknowledge Him in any way? Can you imagine what it must be like to continually face up to people who are sinning right in front of Him?

But just as we do have to face up to things we do not like, we also are given many blessings and rewards as we do live our lives with Him. But the best rewards are going to be those that we can look forward to after we are released from this world and all the trapping held herein. When we have done the hard work and have completed what we have set out to do, then we can expect the rewards for all that we have done to be given to us. If we want to earn money we have to work for it. The jobs that we do are not always what we like but we do them so that we can earn a living. Christ is saying to us that we may well face things we do not enjoy, but the reward has already been laid out for us – we just have to complete the course.

Points to Ponder:
Are you getting weary of your work?

Are you remembering all that God has promised us?