Time Well Spent

One question I have been forced to ask myself lately is: How well was my time spent this past year? As I pondered this question, I found that I wasn't that happy about how I spent some days. Let me explain. I had this idea that I had wasted mountains of time by doing what I considered tedious, unskilled jobs. After all, how could what I do - washing dishes, planning meals, doing laundry, shoveling snow, taking care of an ill family member, scrubbing floors, or sewing and knitting - possibly measure up to being a missionary, a pastor, having a large ministry on the Internet, being a singer, writing books or being a Christian CEO? It is something I have always struggled with and have found that many other Christians struggle with, also.

 Am I going to answer the question? Does what I do have any less significance in God's eyes? Today while reading in Colossians 3: verses 17, 23 and 24 I found an amazing "God" principle for ordinary living. I've read it a million times (well, maybe hundreds.) At times, when reading about God's standards for every day living, we have a tendency to think, "Yes, yes, I've read that a hundred times---I know all about it."

 Then one day it hits you and you ask yourself; what planet have I been on? That is what happened to me, even though I know this teaching by heart. All the same, wrong thought processes can cloud the truth. Verse 17 expresses clearly, "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." Matthew Henry's commentary makes this note; "A servant is never the further from heaven for being a servant. LIGHT BULB moment!

The verse DOES NOT say, "And whatever you do, that is considered important by people in general, or gives you status quo, do that in the name of the Lord Jesus." It simply declares, "Whatever you do in word and deed." My every word and my every deed if done unto God counts for something! This means that the man who works in the factory faithfully and does it unto the Lord---that work counts for something. The mailman, who is pleasant and cheerfully delivers the mail and does it as unto God, is doing what God wants him to. The wife who takes care of an ill spouse, or the husband who watches lovingly over an ill wife, is doing God's will. When I speak kindness to a stranger, hug a child, wipe a grandchild's nose or kiss their boo-boo it all counts! How freeing the principle is.  It is God's principle for everyday living.

So as we enter a New Year let us keep in mind our "Deeds and Words," and make them count for God.