FOR THE GLORY OF GOD

So many Biblical phrases come to mind when I think about who we are in Christ and what our mission is on earth.

"Here am I Lord, send me." Isaiah 6:8

"It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." Galatians 2:20

"We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared for us in advance that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10

Can you wrap your mind around this? We were created by God, for the purpose of doing good works, by the power of our Lord and Savior Jesus. We are not our own. We have no dominion over our mind or body. Resistance, as the Star Trek Borg are so fond of saying, is futile.


We say to ourselves, "But I don't resist! I want to do the will of God! I want to serve Him with my whole heart, mind, soul and body."

But do we? Paul succinctly reminds us, I do not do what I ought, and I do what I know I should not.

One day as I was heading into a grocery store in a rush I noticed a man at one entrance sitting on the ground. He wore dirty clothes, his face was covered by a scraggly beard, and his hair was long and disheveled. I immediately judged him. "filthy beggar," I thought to myself, "he's probably a drug addict waiting for his dealer to deliver drugs." Inside me, I heard a distinctly familiar voice saying, "who are you to judge?"

Ignoring the voice of the Spirit, I turned away from the nearest entrance where the man was and entered on the other side of the building. I'd forgotten all about him by the time I finished my shopping and exited through the doors where my "beggar" was still posted. As soon as I realized my error, I pushed my cart quickly out into the dark rainy night without giving him so much as a glance. I filled my trunk with lots of food and treats and whatever else I wasted my money on (feeling just a wee bit guilty but surely justified - after all, I was a firm believer in the quote, "give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will never go hungry.")

As I got in behind the wheel and started to insert my key in the ignition, that voice whispered softly to me again. "Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto Me."

The guilt now felt more like sadness.

I inserted the key. "Whatsoever you do unto the least of my brothers, that you do unto Me."

I turned over the ignition. "Anne, whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto Me."

Shutting the car off, I reached for my wallet replying (rather annoyed,) "I get it, I get it." I took all the cash I had from my wallet and walked nervously back to the scruffy little man still believing he was waiting for a drug dealer. As I approached him, he looked up at me with beautiful clear blue eyes that sparkled in the refraction of light from inside the store window. His smile was broad and filled with joy.

"Are you waiting for someone?" I asked rather stiffly.

"Yes!" he exclaimed turning his body toward me and presenting a bucket I hadn't earlier noticed. "I'm waiting for Him!" he said joyfully. On the bucket was a picture of Jesus. Underneath was written, "Feed the Hungry."

I put all my money in the slot in the top of his bucket and said quietly and utterly ashamed, "God bless you."

In my reading of 2Corinthians 4 this morning, I was reminded, I am not my own. My life is meant to be a sacrifice for the salvation of others as Jesus gave His life for me. Though the struggles and pains of human shell seem difficult, even unbearable at times, our time here is fleeting in God's perspective, no more than pinpricks in the fabric of eternity.

What troubles you today? Can you stand with Jesus and say, yes Lord, You bore my sins now I welcome my own cross for Your sake?

Father in heaven, how we long to be there with You, home at last. But today Lord, we say yes to whatever you have in store, be it joy or sorrow. We count it a privilege to suffer for the sake of the gospel to glorify Your Name. Thank You Jesus for choosing me. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.