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“‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’ Luke 19:17
Have you ever caught yourself looking around and asking yourself ‘Is this all there is?”. You look at your abilities and compare them to the abilities of someone else. You measure your past against those whose past is ‘squeaky clean’ and stable. You see a couple walking hand in hand down the street and with your relationship was like that.
If we are honest we each have those moments where we wish we had more money, more time, better skills, a better relationship, a better body and a whole list of other things to make us more successful, better respected and more comfortable. These feelings can bring on depression, discouragement, anger, hate, envy and a whole bunch of other destructive and retraining emotions.
Jesus tells a story about three men who were given money by their master before he went away on a trip. When he returned, he went to see what each of them had done with the money given them. Two of the men had used the money for good things. They’d invested wisely, spent frugally and, in the end, made their master more money. The third person did nothing. He held tightly to what he had so that when the master returned he gave him everything he had been given, but not a penny more.
When the master returned he commends his servants for being faithful in the small things, the little things of life. They may have thought it was a huge responsibility, but he didn’t. In fact, the person who was given the least was afraid to do anything at all because he was afraid of failure. Fear keeps us from doing the little things that lead to success.
God gives us what we need to excel in life. You may have made some terrible mistakes in life. You may be suffering from consequences that will last you a life time, full of scars and wounds that are taking much longer to heal than you’d hoped. Don’t allow these things to keep you from investing your time in the little things that will enable God to use you. It wasn’t the amount of money the master gave his servants that was important, it was what each person did with it that counted.
For those of us that are Christ-followers, those little things that matter may be starting to read the Bible and pray on a daily basis. It may be spending more time with your kids or building that weak relationship.
Think of life as drama production. Usually you have one or two people who are major players. You have a cast of others who support the plot. You have people in the background making sure costumes are right, the set is in place and the sound and lights are in place. We normally think of the stars as being the most important, but how would the play be without supporting cast members or crew? Just as there are no unimportant roles to play in drama, there are no unimportant roles to play in life.
Use what you have to glorify God alone. Do the little things you know you need to do to grow stronger in Him and into a closer relationship with Him. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by what others are doing or others have. Play your part to the best of your ability and let God do the rest.
PRAYER: Father God I thank you for me. Thank you that you have given me all that I need to excel in life. Forgive me for letting my past cripple me. Empower me to enjoy who I am and where I am without comparing myself to others. Give me the grace I need to be the person you want me to be. In your name I pray. Amen.
Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out. Proverbs 10:9
He was caught red-handed. There was no way to hide it now. It was in the open. His integrity lay in a shattered heap on the ground. How would he face his family? How would he face the family of the person he killed? What would happen with his faith? Would God act swiftly and with revenge? All his years of waiting, running, fighting for what was right was destroyed in an instant.
He felt anguish, guilt, fear, shame and, interestingly, relief. I’m talking about the story of David and Bathsheba. Here he was, King of Israel and caught in a lovers triangle. He’d slept with another man’s wife and got her pregnant. He had her husband murdered to try to cover up his crime. He ran, but he couldn’t hide.
Before we are too hard on David we need to look at our own lives. Maybe it isn’t adultery and murder that plague us. It could be anger, lust, addictions of any kind, doubt, or envy. We may be able to hide those things for awhile. Some of us get good enough to hide them for years! There are a few that are able to live their entire lives fooling other people. But even if we can fool everyone else, we will still have internal consequences to deal with.
Sociologists and psychologists tell us that many emotional, physical and spiritual issues in a person’s life can be traced to one thing: guilt or unresolved guilt. Guilt is a powerful force that can affect us in every aspect of our lives. We do things to try to cover up that guilt, but those things make matters worse. We grow fearful of what other people may think so we live in fear. We blame others or try to drown our sorrows in new relationships, drugs and alcohol or some other activity. We run in fear of being found out because we don’t want to suffer the shame or consequences. The things we do to try to hide our ‘secret lives’ only make matters worse and take a devastating toll on our personal lives and relationships.
People who finally ‘come clean’ often express a feeling of relief. They don’t have to hide anymore. They can get the support they need for the healing process and their entire outlook on life changes for the better. Coming clean may mean we have to confess some things publicly, but most importantly it means being honest with God and with ourselves. He is the only one who can heal us of our wounds. Confession of our struggle isn’t a sign of weakness but of strength.
Regardless of what you are struggling with today, Jesus can offer you the healing you need. He doesn’t expect you to clean yourself up first. He won’t be critical when you fall (again and again). Jesus knows the root cause of our actions when no one else does. He isn’t about making us feel guilty; Jesus wants to make us feel clean.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, I thank You for knowing the struggle I go through every day. I’m afraid of being caught. I’m losing sleep. I feel completely out of control. I even doubt your existence at times because the pain is so bad. Forgive me for failing so many times. Help me to have the courage to change what I need to change so I can live in integrity. Amen.
I put in charge of Jerusalem my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah the commander of the citadel, because he was a man of integrity and feared God more than most people do. Nehemiah 7:2
When crunch time comes you want to call on someone you know you can count on. Someone who performs well under pressure; someone who is confident enough in his/her abilities that a challenge is looked forward to; someone who is willing to risk, but open to asking for help when needed; someone who won’t let their bad day affect the task at hand.
That was the kind of person the Prophet Nehemiah was looking for when he rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. The success of the project involved far more than the protection of the people. Nehemiah was an envoy for the King. Failure wasn’t an option because failure not only meant Nehemiah would be considered a failure, his God, Jehovah God would be discredited.
So where did Nehemiah go for his go-to guy? He went to his brother, Hanani, but this wasn’t a case of Nepotism. It was wise discernment. While Nehemiah was a servant in the palace of the Persian King Jerusalem lay in ruins. The once proud and glorious city was now the laughing stock of marauding bands of thieves. God’s people and His city, the city of David, was a disgrace.
With conditions as deplorable as they were, there was no doubt much discussion at the local Fig Juice Shop about the glory days, about how God had failed and how destitute they all were. When times are tough there is always plenty of blame and complaining to go around.
That’s where Hanani comes in. He wasn’t the type of guy to sit around sipping on Fig Juice and vent. He was a doer, a go getter, a ‘if God gave us a promise then we’d best pursue it’ kind of guy. In the midst of the blame game, Hanani took off for Persia. It was a dangerous journey laced with enemy kings and thieves. That didn’t stop Hanani.
When he arrived in at the Persian palace, Hanani told Nehemiah all about the terrible conditions in Jerusalem. Eventually the walls were rebuilt and Jerusalem rose from the rubble due to the leadership of Nehemiah and the determination of Hanani.
We can each learn a lesson from the story of Hanani. We come across issues and struggles every day of our lives. Every time we come across an obstacle we have a choice to take action. Will it be a negative action such as complaining or blaming? Or will it be the positive action of looking for and working on solutions.
Hanani’s integrity was based on confidence in himself and in His God. Each of us has the same opportunities. As Christ-followers we should be the kind of people that others look to in crisis because we don’t discuss the problem, we plan the solution.
PRAYER: Holy God. I praise you for the wisdom and intellect you have given me. I ask that you would empower me by your Holy Spirit to be a take positive action sort of person. Protect me from the tendency to complain and blame so that Your name will be glorified because of me. In Jesus name, Amen.
Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank Proverbs 22:29
The difference between excellence and mediocrity can often be determined by our attitude about God, ourselves and others. Of the three, our view of ourselves is perhaps the most powerful adversary to our rising to excellence.
If we see ourselves as failures, we will most likely never rise to excellence. We look at past failures and say to ourselves “I’ll never amount to anything. Everything I’ve ever done has failed. The more we dwell on our failures the easier it is to become afraid to fail, complacent in what we do, or just give up all together. I wonder if even the Apostle Paul was near that point when he wrote in his letter to the Romans “The things I want to do I never do, the things I hate doing, I always do.”
The Bible is full of stories of people just like you who have failed in life. Time and again they’ve picked themselves up only to be knocked down. But God used them in mighty ways. Don’t let the past keep you from excelling into the future.
Another hindrance to our rising to the level of excellence is our view of what success really is. Often we measure success by what other people have done or are doing. This is true in the spiritual realm, the physical realm, and the emotional/relational realm. We look at someone else’s job, skills, ‘spirituality’, spouse, etc. and say, I’ll never succeed. Look at how well Mary prays or how well Joe does his job.
Excellence is a personal thing. Your Heavenly Father is the one that bestowed gifts on you. He is the one that gives you opportunities to use those gifts. Excellence in your corner of the world may never be seen by others outside of your own circle. That doesn’t make it less excellent. Stop comparing yourself to others. Be the very best you can be. Accept your flaws, work to correct what you can and do what you can to make your corner of the world brighter.
When our past gets in the way or we are surrounded by people who seem to have ‘made it’ it’s easy to play the blame game as well. We ask God why He won’t do for us what He did for them. We may even get angry with Him and doubt His wisdom, power or existence. That’s the time to step back and remember that God’s desire is for you to rely on Him, not to have a bunch of friends and be famous. Excellence to God is being godly parents, children and members of our community who walk in close relationship to Him.
Stop comparing yourself to others. Don’t let the past act as handcuffs in keeping you from living the future to its fullest. Allow God to work through you to be the best you can be. He isn’t looking for cookie-cutter Christians. He’s looking for people of excellence.
PRAYER: Father, there are some many times when I’ve allowed my view of myself or the view others have of me to keep me from being excellent for you. Forgive me for basing who I am on what I see in others. Empower me to be excellent in everything I do today, in each life I touch and every task I do. For I exist to glorify You, not myself. In Jesus name, Amen.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23-24
What do you do for a living? When someone asks you that question they are usually asking whose name is on the paycheck or where you spend your working hours. What we do in life has a huge effect on how we feel about ourselves. If we love our job, life is good even if the pay we receive isn’t enough. If we hate our job, no amount of money in the world will bring us joy. There are many ‘rich people’ who go to work feeling miserable everyday.
What is the difference? The difference between enjoying your job and despising your job comes from inside you. There are lots of ‘bosses’ out there who feel it is their duty to micro-manage everything. They make you feel like you are a total idiot and, no matter how well you do, they criticize every aspect of your work.
There are other bosses out there who are controlling, manipulative and degrading. It’s as if they use their power to make themselves feel good at your expense. They will make you feel stupid, insignificant or hold the paycheck you receive over your head as some sort of carrot to make you do what he/she wants.
There are good bosses too, of course. Those men and women who see their job as empowering you to excel at what you do. They see you as a partner in business more than a slave to be directed and used.
It’s interesting that when Paul was writing to the Colossians he doesn’t make reference to the type of boss you have. He makes reference to the kind of worker you are. God isn’t as concerned about how your boss treats you as he is how you approach your work. The reason for that is because in God’s eyes, you aren’t working for an earthly boss or earthly rewards. Your daily work is for Him and your reward is eternal.
Remember the earlier question, “What do you do for a living?” Your response to that question defined how you feel about yourself. Whether you are a student, a stay-at-home parent, a teacher, a preacher or anything else, your boss isn’t the person whose signature is on your paycheck. Your boss is whose signature is on your heart. That signature is either Jesus or you. The difference will be seen in your attitude. Don’t let earthly bossed determine your worth. Your worth is wrapped up in who you are in Jesus and what He has done for you and in you.
If God is sovereign as we say He is, then wherever He places you is for a purpose, to help you grow stronger, use your gifts and show your co-workers what Jesus is like. Ultimately, Jesus is the one we answer to. Work everyday with excellence for His name’s sake.
PRAYER: Father God, you know that I go to work some days with dread in my heart. I feel [unappreciated, used, underpaid, unqualified] to do what I do. I get angry, frustrated and stressed. I ask that you would empower me to approach every day and every job with the attitude that I am doing it for you. If I am to dig ditches, let my ditches be deep and straight to show the excellence You have instilled in me. From this day forward, I am working for you. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 