Colossians 3: 23-24
“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”
It was seven years ago, as our family exited the church after Christmas Eve services, that I caught sight of a neighbor friend and quickly walked over to express Merry Christmas wishes to her and her husband. The words she spoke to me—and I don’t use this term lightly—turned out to be life-changing. “I do hope you are planning to write a Lenten devotional series like the Advent one.” I had just posted the final piece on my Facebook profile page and was experiencing a tremendous sense of accomplishment and relief, so I was a bit taken aback as the thought hadn’t crossed my mind. Her words gave me a lot to think about as the new year approached, but her request wasn’t high on my list of prayers and goals for the new year to come. However, God’s still, small voice kept reminding me of the request from my friend, but with each whisper, I quickly dismissed the reminder.
One day a few weeks later, no longer able to ignore God’s voice, I walked into my husband’s office with great trepidation and asked him to pray with me about it. Immediately he expressed strong encouragement after He heard me share how scared I was to make the commitment. If God was calling me to do this, I knew I could not drop the ball. I was either all in or all out; there could be no half-hearted attempt. The possibility of my dropping the ball or just hoping for the best with the Lenten devotions weighed heavily on me as we began to pray more earnestly about it. With the Lenten season fast approaching, the sense had become stronger that God had, indeed, called me to this, and life-changing it was. Not only did He provide all I needed to complete the series during that Lenten season, but He also inspired me to keep going, which I have been able to do for more than six years now. Unless circumstances intervene to prevent it, I am pressing on into another new year, fully committed to not dropping the ball.
Undoubtedly there have been occasions in the lives of all of us when we have made a commitment to someone or to the Lord and a point came when we dropped the ball, letting someone down, hoping that things would work out anyway. Our scripture verse for today reminds us what our attitude should be regarding the work we do, and for Whom we do it. Whatever we do—at our place of employment, in the home, in the church, serving in the community—all should be done with our whole hearts, with our best effort, without dropping the ball. Certainly there are times and seasons when the work, a particular task or service must come to an end and, in that case, we should depart with consideration and grace. The verse in Colossians also reminds us that our reward comes from the Lord. It is always nice to be appreciated, encouraged and spurred on in our tasks, but it is not for the applause of others that we do our work, rather, all is to be done for the glory of God and for the inheritance of reward in heaven. So, let us go forward into the New Year not just hoping for the best, but doing our best, in His strength, with His guidance, and all for His glory.
Lord, we thank You for guiding us through another year and we look forward with hope and anticipation to any new opportunities You give us to work hard, in whatever you have chosen for us to do, for Your honor and glory. And it’s for Your sake we pray, Amen.
