Friday, February 13, 2009

Workers...

Good Evening All,

Well tonight our company took some time and had a night of fun and fellowship. We have all been under a great deal of pressure lately and so tonight we had a bonfire and cooked hotdogs and made smores and had some fun activities. I think that has done alot to ease tensions. I will post photos of tonight soon.

Tonight, I want to go over some thoughts with you. I was laying in bed last night praying and when I was done, I was thinking about ways in which I could improve my Witness. Suddenly a thought came to me that often times we worry about the things that we as Christians shouldn't do in order to be a good Witness. We work on our behavior so that we don't swear, lie, cheat, steal, gossip, etc... These adjustments are appropriate but I have to think that perhaps God is less concerned about what we don't do, but what we do. In 1 Corinthians 3:8-9 Paul says,
'The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers, you are God's field, God's building.

Paul is making it very clear that the Lord wants us to do good works in his name. I think that often times, when I am trying to improve my life and Witness, that I focus on all of the things that I should avoid and I fail to dwell on those things that will help build the Kingdom. I think about James and John. Jesus called them to be disciples and to me they seemed like an odd choice. I get the impression that James and John were boisterous, loud, perhaps argumentative, and at times maybe not the most appropriate gentlemen in the world. But I think Christ saw something in these men and that is that they were devoted workers. When they said they would do something, they kept their word. I believe the Lord honors that type of devotion. In 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 Paul again instructs us to: 'Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anyone.'

The point here is that people may not always associate the things that you don't do with your devotion to Christ. For even non-Christian people can be good and morale people, but their works will not reflect their devotion to Christ. But if you are devoting your life to the service of our Lord, then our Witness will speak loud and clear. We do the things we do for a purpose. I pray that our purpose and our work is to serve Christ and build His Kingdom.

I pray that you are all well,

God Bless you,


Jeff

P.S. I need to put in a disclaimer. Please forgive me for any spelling errors that you will most certainly find on my post's. Spelling classes stopped after the 8th grade so, I am good only up to two syllable words. After that, I am winging it. Additionally, I will be coming home for a couple of weeks of leave in March. I will fly out on the 24th of March and will hopefully be home by the 26th. It will be Karis spring break and 10th birthday, so I am really excited about celebrating with her. She is awesome!

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