Sunday, January 30, 2011

Eternity in Your Heart

Ecclesiastes 3:9-11
Sunday, January 30, 2011

God-given tasks that we Christians are preoccupied with will never benefit ourselves. We should know fully well that our motivations for doing ministry should not be for selfish gain.

One thing we God-workers have in common is eternity in our hearts (verse 11). We know, like Abraham and David, that we will never get to see God’s full plan from beginning till end, but in this moment at the present, we press on to the upward call of Christ Jesus our Lord. For who else is wiser and greater that his/her plans could compare to what God is doing on earth.

Abraham and David did not live to see all the promises of God accomplished, but they knew that what they did and all that they had labored would benefit the plans of God. Are you right now preoccupied with stuff that if you’re honest with yourself has a motive of self-profit? Have you ever considered setting your motives for everything you do to be all about Jesus and God’s work on earth?

Friday, January 14, 2011

Love Conquers All

1 Cor 13:1-8
Friday, January 14, 2011

The Lord reminds me again that it is not about service nor is it about gifts and talents but the motive behind it that matters the most. Love must come first. If we do not love, then we should not do, because what is not born out of love will fail and with the failure comes discouragement and with it comes depression.

Love conquers all. You are at your best when you love. Gifts may fail but love never fails. When you do something out of love, it is the best. But when you do something out of service, you tend to give in to second best.

Love is righteousness, so hang on to it. When we do something out of obligation, it does not satisfy us. But when we do it out of love, somehow we feel that we have accomplished so much more. So learn to love as Christ loved the church. God demonstrated to us so well the art of sacrificial love. In all that He did, love came first. Whether rebuke, correction, good deeds or praising, Jesus did them out of love.

So the next time you do something, before you act, think of your motives for doing it. If it is not out of love, don’t do it if you can help it. Without love, you’ll only come out of it sore, throw a pity party and expect others to comfort you. But with love comes encouragement, strength, a strong will, and a satisfied heart.