Colossians 3:23-24 (NRSV)
23 Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters, 24 since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ.

 

My father used to say that anything good is worth working hard for. Frankly, I thought his philosophy was wrong. It seemed to me that anything good was worth working smart for. I believed that the largest payoff for the minimum cost was the benchmark of value. This could certainly be true if your perspective is worldly and not of God.

Over the past months (and years for that matter) I have talked to so many people and families who seem to struggle from one difficult situation to another. Their total and complete expectation is based on some worldly change that will be forgotten in weeks, if not days, should the very thing they pray for come to pass. The work is hard but the temporal reward is temporary at best. What happened?

On the other hand, I have encountered people who have endured great hardship like cancer or addictions or difficult relationships that are soul shaking compared to what we believe to be the norm. Yet they give thanks to God for the very affliction that rocks their world. Why? Because they understand that only by God's grace have they had the strength to endure. The result of their situation brings about strengthened relationships, internal peace and reliance on God that may not have come any other way. Their daily lives are lived minute by minute in prayer to God for a strength that does not exist within their earthly being. The reward is in the living and not the earthly outcome. If each day is lived for God, the more difficult the circumstances the greater the realized reward of a present and loving God that promises peace in the midst of chaos and God-borne love in an atmosphere of contempt.

From God's perspective, which should be our perspective, it just might be true that when we work with God as our master, the more difficult the situation, the more evident the spiritual power revealed to us mere mortals and that is a reward beyond worldly value.

How do you wish to live out your life? Do you find yourself asking the question; "Is this as good as it gets?" Only God can supply the deeper answer we humans seem to miss.

Joshua 24:15 (NRSV)
15 Now if you are unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."  AMEN

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor John