It Takes Hard Work

Some people are dreamers they expect everything to get magically done for them, and then glory in what they supposedly achieved. They are just waiting for a little luck and the right golden opportunity to come up. The reality of life is that achievement takes effort, and too many people waste their lives sitting on their butts waiting for something to happen. Well, guess what? Nothing happens and they fritter their lives away waiting. God did not make us to be slackers. He made us for a purpose, and he wants us to get the job done. We may use many excuses as to why we do not do things, but the bottom line is that we are just too lazy, undisciplined or fearful to get the job done. As the Proverb states, “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man” (Proverbs 6:6-11). It takes self discipline and a focused purpose to get things done. Procrastination and lack of personal drive will never get us ahead in life. We need purpose and determination to get the job done.
Many people believe that spirituality is based totally on God’s will in life, and they wait for God to do something. Well, guess what? If God did everything himself, there would be no commandments in the Bible. God does not just say, “Sit there and I’ll look after everything.” No, he says, “Arise, go . . . . “ (Jonah 1:2). God expects some action from us! A passage in the Bible says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). God does the preparation work; especially in his provision of Jesus Christ. He enables us and gives us the gifts and skills for the job. Then, he expects us to “walk in them.” He does not expect us to run, but to take one careful step after another. The world is like a minefield with many dangers, so we are not to act hastily but to progress with wisdom and knowledge. This requires practice and diligent hard work! God wants us to be like spiritual ants; self-directed, diligent and active – making the most of every opportunity that comes our way. Yes, there are times of rest and taking it easy, but most of all there is a time for hard work. We need to earn the leisure time. Let's not just be dreamers, but people of action and determination to achive the most we can with our lives.

Step by Step

If we are to be follows of Christ, we need to walk in the Spirit. As the Scriptures tell us, "We get our new life from the Spirit, so we should follow the Spirit" (Galatians 5:25; NCB). The Holy Spirit will show us the way to the Father. Jesus said that after His death God would give us another Counselor to be with us forever - the Spirit of truth (John 14:16b-17). The Spirit leads us to the truth about God, who we are in Christ, and reveals to us the way of eternal life. He will counsel us in the way of life, but we must listen carefully to what He says. We need to follow his directions and take one step at a time. If we hurry along too quickly, we will become careless and lose our way.
Unless we are lead by the Spirit of God, we will find ourselves following our own thoughts and desires. When we walk in the Spirit, we will have productive lives. Our lives will be full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23a). The Spirit produces in us character, and the desire to do what is right. If we want the fruit of the Spirit in our daily lives, we will need to continually follow the pathways of righteousness and faith. These pathways are hard to find and require diligent effort to follow. To hear the voice of the Spirit requires much spiritual training, discipline and prayer. The ways of life are hard to follow (Matthew 7:13-14). In fact, without the help of the Spirit they are impossible for us to find. Once found, we need constant guidance to stay on the right path. The forest is thick and full of dangers, but the trail is well marked ahead of us by the Spirit. We need to develop the skills of a spiritual tracker, and faithfully follow the path prepared ahead of us (Ephesians 2:10).
The Spirit of God shows us the way to our eternal home. If we stay focused on the light He gives us, we will not lose our way. Like a giant lighthouse, wherever life’s journeys take us, we will always see the glow of everlasting light. A light to bring us safely to our heavenly home. A light that is ever true and faithful. A light that never fades. It shines brighter and brighter as we get closer to the source of that light.

Questions for Reflection:
1) How do you hear the Spirit of God talking to you? Do you carefully listen to what He says to you? (Romans 8:15-16)
2) How would you measure your spiritual productivity? (Galatians 5:13-14)
3) How could you have more of the fruit of the Spirit in your life? (Romans 8:5-11)

You have to Choice to Make

Life is full of choices. Each choice directs our lives in a particular direction, and alters our path in life. We either choose to follow God's will or to follow our own ambitions. Our own ways are the easiest ones to follow. They take no effort or self-discipline on our part. They come to us naturally. Without God, everyone chooses to follow their own thinking and desires. Every choice is made with the intent of benefiting ourselves in one way or another. Every inclination of our thoughts are to further our own causes. The primary task of selfish living is to follow our own ways and desires, and ignore the needs and circumstances of others.
Only God can bring order and direction into our lives. Only God can open our minds to a better way of living. On our own we tend to look after ourselves first. As the great missionary the Apostle Paul wrote about himself, "Yes, I know that nothing good lives in me - I mean nothing good lives in the part of me that is earthly and sinful. I want to do the things that are good, but I do not do them. I do not do the good things I want to do, but I do the bad things I do not want to do. So if I do things I do not want to do, then I am not the one doing them. It is sin living in me that does those things" (Romans 7:18-20; NCB). We are involved in a battle with our selfish desires, and without great effort and self-discipline we will lose every time to our selfish ambitions. Only the power of God can bring deliverance and victory into our lives.
The Bible tells us, "So, do not let sin control your life here on earth so that you do what your sinful self wants to do. Do not offer the parts of your body to serve sin, as things to be used in doing evil. Instead, offer yourselves to God as people who have died [to self and now live to love others]. Offer the parts of your body to God to be used in doing good" (Romans 6:12-14; NCB). Freedom from selfishness is through the selfless death of Christ on the cross. He died for our wrongs. We must focus on the power of God in Christ, if we are to be free from the captivating power of selfishness. We now have a way to freedom; the way of the Holy Spirit of God. "Now we do not live following our sinful selves, but we live following the Spirit" (Romans 8:4b). How do we follow the Spirit? We follow the Spirit by thinking about the things the Spirit wants us to do, by showing love and kindness to others. The choice in life we make is to look after ourselves or to look after others.

How are We to Respond to God

God at times is presented as a type of Santa Clause. If you are good, he will bring you gifts. In God’s case, if we are good, nothing bad will happen to us. We live a life of fear wondering how not to get God angry with us. However, this is not the picture the Bible gives us. God is not the bad guy in the sky waiting for you to mess up, so that he can punish you. I guess a lot of the preaching over the years has built this image of God.
Yet, I see a different picture in the Bible. I see a God who is a Father and accepts the failings of his children. Even with our own children, we cannot scold them for every mistake they make, or they just fear and avoid the parent. God knows that we will make mistakes in life. A verse in the Bible says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8, 10). God is never surprised by our actions. He knows us very well. As a good parent, obviously he wants us to live the best lives possible. He knows that if we follow his direction, life will go better for us. What parent does not give their children advice on how to live?
Most of all God has made provision for our failings and wrong doings. God gave Jesus Christ as the one who paid for our mistakes. He is called the “atoning sacrifice.” He died for our sins, so that we could escape the wrath of God. God accepts us, because all our sins have been forgiven, and God does not hold them against us. This is how a holy God can be in our sinful presence. The punishment for sin has been given to Jesus Christ. He took the penalty for us. Why did he do this? Because, he knew that his death would pay the price for all people’s sins. The Bible says, “If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the appeasement for our sins” (1 John 2:1-2). “I have been crucified with Christ . . . and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). This is the wonderful message of the gospel. God now accepts us in Christ. By believing in this gospel message, God justifies us; declares us innocent. That is he makes it as if we had never sinned. All we have to do is confess that we need Jesus Christ to make us acceptable to God (1 John 1:9). This faith in what God has done for us brings us total forgiveness and acceptance.