Whatever We Do!

Colossians 3:23

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,

Whatever we do – we should do it to God’s glory! Whatever we do – we should give our best effort – as if we were doing it for God. This is a Scripture that has been in my thoughts throughout my life. I wish I could say I’ve always followed it – but – I can’t. I have failed to follow these instructions on numerous occasions. But – I will strive and have strived often to follow it.

We’ve talked a lot about witnessing and our Christian walk of late. Some of us are more excited and give a better effort to persuade someone to like our favorite sports team or to vote for our preferred candidate in the upcoming elections than we do to persuade them to follow Jesus. We get more pumped up for worldly things – at times – than we do for spiritual things. We would invite someone to a game a lot quicker than to church. We put more time into our worldly endeavors like our work or our hobbies – than we do in deepening our faith walk with Jesus (at least it seems that for many of us).

Trusting in God

Psalm 20:7

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

Where do we place our trust? I retired 2.5 years ago – thinking I had enough saved along with retirement money that should come my way. I was placing some trust in my method of saving for the future. But – did I save enough? Did I calculate correctly how long I will live and my health? I have a financial advisor who has helped me plan for most of my adult life. I have placed a lot of trust in this person. Did I prepare enough to make ends meet until I transcend to heaven for eternity?

Where do we place our trust? I’e had the same primary physician for most of my adult life. I go in for 6 month checkups and try to abide by what my doctor tells me (most of the time). I also have a heart doctor who did my heart surgery. I also have an orthopedic surgeon who repaired both shoulders (rotator cuffs) and continues to work on my arthritic knees. When I had back pain – I found a specialist who found two herniated disks and gave me meds for the pain and I went to physical therapy (I have a favorite PT specialist). I have placed a lot of trust in individuals – professionals – with my daily and on-going health. I try to listen to their advise and have actually lost 40 pounds of late to help my knees and my health.

I Plan Day by Day

Proverbs 16:9

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.

I am a planner. I plan almost everything! My wife would say – at times – that I over plan. I remember learning to plan family vacation routes with my father. We would put the map (yes – a large paper map) on the hood of the car or even on the dining room table – and map out our route. We would plan the turns and the breaks we would take – all through the trip to our destination. The things we wanted to see – and places we planned to visit. Often – the plan went off without a hitch. Most of the time – if you plan well – you will have success. Surprises come – but – a well thought out plan typically enables us to overcome most surprises.

I plan things – even day by day at times. I often wake to ask myself and my wife – what is on our schedule today? I plan almost everything! For instance – I was planning on being retired on July 1^st of 2021. I had plans to play golf – travel with my wife – spend more time with our children and grandchildren. I certainly didn’t plan on having heart surgery on June 1^st before that retirement. Yet – God not only provided the BEST surgeon for my procedure (a long story – but I had my surgery 2 months before he left the practice he was with and all of it was put together inside 2 weeks time) – but – at one of the leading heart hospitals too. It is a complicated ablation surgery – but I was home that same evening. After one week of taking it easy (meaning no driving or going up and down stairs) – I was good for a closing revival at First Church on June 13^th thru 16^th of that year.

Fishing for Men and Women

Matthew 4:19

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”

I have a number of friends who love to fish. I never really got into fishing. I have a bad case of motion sickness – but wouldn’t mind sitting on a shoreline somewhere on a lazy summer day with a line in the water. My friends post pictures of some of their favorite fishing holes on social media. They really enjoy fishing. It must be very exciting and relaxing to them. I might have to try it sometime – if retirement ever gets here.

A friend of mine – from a former church – is really into fishing. He often posts pictures of fish he has caught on social media. He gets some big ones. He and another friend go deep water fishing at times. My friend’s youngest son has taken an interest in fishing as well and they are often together at their favorite fishing hole – as seen on his social media page! He brought a dozen or more rods to church one Sunday for a prop for a sermon series titled Gone Fishing or something like that. I miss this friend dearly! We both play golf and need to do more of it together.

One of my golfing buddies bought a nice boat in the not too distant past (my wife just bought one too – so – maybe – I’ll be out on it – can someone pass the Dramamine please?) My fear was that he would be going fishing a lot and we would not be golfing much anymore. This past summer we ended up not playing much golf together – not because he was fishing – but because of my schedule (I didn’t get to retire as planned). He says he doesn’t have time for those of us still working full-time (LOL). Maybe this summer we can play some more.

Encourage Others

1 Thessalonians 5:11

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Encourage others. Nice words – but do we truly follow them? I was a baller when I was younger. One of the things I learned on a playground on Addison Road in Seat Pleasant and later – on the playgrounds of Annapolis and the courts at some of the housing developments – was to get into the head of your opponent. Trash talking was a must. Anything you could say to get into their heads – make them doubt their game – was fair game. It wasn’t about encouraging them – it was about making them doubt themselves. To encourage the opponent on the court might be giving them an advantage. If you allow a lesser opponent to stick around by encouraging their game – they just might beat you.

Encourage others. Nice words – but do we truly follow them? We live in a competitive world and society. Phrases like dog eat dog – do unto others before they do unto you – hit or be hit and the strongest survive are what many live by these days. At times – it seems that we need to get over someone else for that promotion or job. We often seem to be faced with a cutthroat business world. To encourage someone striving for the same prize might be counterproductive. I mean – would we really want to encourage someone and allow them to get the position we’re striving to get?

Encourage others. Nice words – but do we truly follow them? Even in the ministry – among colleagues – encouragement is not as common as it should be. Instead of rejoicing when someone has a successful ministry project or does something unique in ministry – often we immediately turn the conversation to what we have accomplished or have planned. It seems that the art of encouragement seems to need a boast – even among those who should be encouragers.