September 23, 2013 … Our Works May Not Be Our Work

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 266

Devotional Song: Go to this link -  Please take the time to meditate on this poignant song, sung by The Maranatha Singers, entitled To Be Pleasing You, reminding Christians that we are to be vessels in service for our Lord, doing all we can with our life to please and glorify Him.

Highlight meditation passage – Romans 11: 29 [NLT]: …  
29 For God’s gifts and His call can never be withdrawn.
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Highlight reading study of Romans: 11: 25-36: Go to this link … 

Reference Passage #1: Romans 12: 1 [Our lives – a “living sacrifice” in worship … to Him.] … [NLT] …  
1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him.

Reference Passage #2: Romans 12: 6-8 [God gives all Christians at least one gift – or maybe more – to serve Him.] … [NLT] … Go to this link ... 

 Reference Passage #3: Ephesians 2: 8-10 [Saved BY grace THROUGH faith UNTO good works.] … [NLT] …
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things [i.e., works] He planned for us long ago.  

My Journal for Today: Today, Os Hillman, in his workplace devotional blog, warns his readers (i.e., yours truly) that we must beware not to get so wrapped up in our “job” to think that this is our absolute calling and find all our identity in service to God being our vocation. Yes, it is true that we should serve God on the job, using the gifts/talents He has imparted to us where we’ve been vocationally planted; but we must beware of thinking that ALL of whom we are is imparted for God where we work (i.e., our vocation or career).

Yes, as Christians, we all have a calling, a God-directed purpose, and much of that will be focused in living our lives to please our Lord, as the Maranatha Singers relate in the song to which I’ve linked you today. However, if we think that our JOB or CAREER is our ALL-IN-ALL for God’s service, we could miss much of where God is leading us to please Him today.

Christians can get so wrapped up in their careers that we may miss our “calling” as a Christian spouse or parent, devoting far too much of who we are – IN CHRIST – for our jobs and being distracted from using God’s gifts and talents (see Romans 12: 6-8 linked above) as part of our calling to please our Lord day-by-day.

So, as the Apostle Paul wrote to Christians in Romans (see the reading above from Romans 11: 36 – 12: 1), all of whom we were created to be is to be for God’s glory; and we’re to become “living sacrifices,” with all of whom we are and what we do being our worship of the Living God. And so, for Christians, when we surrender our lives in faith, receiving God’s saving and sanctifying grace, we become HIS workmanship, … living sacrifices in worship of the One Who created us (see Ephesians 2: 8-10, copied above).

 So, we must beware to think that our JOB is the all-in-all to where God has led us to serve and please Him. Because our God-led and God-purposed roles in marriage, in parenting or grand-parenting, or in our church may be just as important for God’s service as our jobs or careers. So, as we go forth today, wherever God has led us,… let our works, … all our works, … be a living sacrifice as a pleasing witness and our living worship for God’s glory.

My Prayer for Today … Lord, let my life be a pleasure in Your eyes and for Your glory … Amen

Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online blog entitled Today God Is First [TGIF], authored by Os Hillman. If you GO TO THIS LINK  on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read Hillman’s TGIF blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.