CONSECRATION IN OVERALLS

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, FAITHFULNESS, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”  (Galatians 5:22-23 NIV)

FAITHFULNESS is consecration in overalls. It is the steady acceptance and performance of the common duty and immediate task without any reference to personal preferences -- because it is there to be one and so is a manifestation of the Will of God. It is Elizabeth Leseur settling down each day to do the household accounts quite perfectly (when she would much rather have been in church) and saying, “The duties of my station come before everything else.” It is Brother Lawrence taking his turn in the kitchen, and Saint Francis de Sales taking the burden of a difficult diocese and saying, “I have now little time for prayer -- but I do what is the same.”

The fruits of the Spirit get less and less showy as they go on. Faithfulness means continuing quietly with the job we have been given, in the situation where we have been placed; not yielding to the restless desire for change. It means tending the lamp quietly for God without wondering how much longer it has got to go on. 

-- Evelyn Underhill in “The Fruits of the Spirit”

#5551

IT'S ALL ABOUT HIM

"And He died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf."  (2 Corinthians 5:15)

When I was in seminary, Dr. Lawson Stone preached a message in chapel that contained a simple phrase that has never left my heart and mind. In fact, it has become the defining phrase of my understanding about what life and ministry is all about: "It's not about you…it's all about HIM."

Oh, it sounds familiar to us all. We sing it in songs, old and new: "All for Jesus, all for Jesus, every day and every hour"…."Take my life and let it be, consecrated, Lord to Thee"…."It's all about You, Jesus, and all this is for You"… "Lord, I give You my heart, I give You my soul, I live for You alone."

But, as A.W. Tozer wrote, "Christians never tell lies…but quite often they go to church and sing them." The evidence of life so often reveals that our lives have actually become sanctified versions of the old life. [It's as if] the prodigal son comes home, gets cleaned up, and comes back to the father's house. But then he continues to make weekend trips to the faraway land, the land that symbolizes the journey away from God to the land of ME and what I want...

How easily we are deceived into living cleaned-up, religious versions of the self-centered lives that Jesus died to save us from in the first place!! Seek the Lord and ask Him to reveal this to you: Who is it really about? Is it you…or HIM?  

-- Dave Carroll, Missionary to Uganda


#4532

GOD IS THE CENTER

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."  (Jeremiah 1:5)

Our lives are not puzzles to be figured out.  Rather, we come to God, who knows us and reveals to us the truth of our lives.  The fundamental mistake is to begin with ourselves and not God.  God is the center from which all life develops.  If we use our ego as the center from which to plot the geometry of our lives, we will live eccentrically.

-- Eugene H. Peterson in “Run with the Horses: The Quest for Life at its Best”


#4152