What I've Read Today
Excerpt from Monday Morning Sucess from https://tifwe.org:
Jesus is telling us is that we have work to do here on earth while he is away. Many Christians today think that salvation is merely a bus ticket to heaven. And what they do while they wait for the bus to arrive doesn’t matter. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus came to usher in the kingdom of God. He has brought you from darkness into light for a purpose. You have a role to play in the kingdom of God – here and now...
Work is Good
From his first steps on the earth, man received a charge from the Creator: work. As a culture, even as Christians, we’ve wandered away from the idea that we were created to work. We tend to view work as something negative. But God placed Adam in the garden to work it and take care of it before sin tainted his good world.
Our stewardship of the physical world is just as important as our cultivation of spiritual gifts. Therefore, all that we do is worship – planting a garden, cleaning a school, creating a spreadsheet, building a hospital...
The Master measures success by the degree of effort
The stewardship the Master asks for is not mere passive preservation of his gifts. He invites us to use our talents toward productive ends that will bring us satisfaction and joy, delight our Master, and benefit those around us.
We Work for the Master
That invitation into the joy of our Master should be our prevailing motivation for work.
For me, there was tremendous freedom in learning this truth. I was running an IT business in Florida in the early days of the tech bubble. I thought, “I’m going to be the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. I’m going to blow this thing out!” I believed that I could be the best in the world. But one day, reading the parable of the talents, I realized that I’m a “two talent guy.” Gates, Jobs – they are “five talent guys.” What should have been the worst day of my life, when I realized that I was never going to attain my ultimate idea of success, was also the best day of my life. Because I read the end of the story. Both faithful servants received the same reward. God was equally pleased with their work.
When all is said and done, my reward is the same as that “five talent guy.”
Work as Opportunity
Christ is faithful even when we’re not, so you are not going to lose your salvation. But, here’s what you will lose: the incredible opportunity to live a life of significance, of importance, of eternal value. This is what the world is looking for, but they are looking for it in all the wrong places.
...we are only called to faithfully use our own talents and opportunities – not those allotted to Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates.
Excerpt from Every Good Endeavor book:
“When we take fabric and make a piece of clothing, when we push a broom and clean up a room, when we use technology to harness the forces of electricity, when we take an unformed, naïve human mind and teach it a subject… we are continuing God’s work of forming, filling, and subduing.”
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Is life unfair? Do the persons you're envious of have more hours in a day than you?Don't you have the same 24 hours?
Do you feel God's pleasure when you do your work?
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Prayer Item
Pray for your familyMenu
Breakfast: AppleLunch: Mixed carrots, peas and corn, fried potato and onions
Dinner: Boiled squash, papaya, mixed carrots, peas and corn
