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When I was younger I used to think I had to understand everything in order to preach or teach it.  Unfortunately, all too many of us continue to feel that way and use that as reason for not taking on teaching a class or small group, or even sharing our faith in Christ.  We’re afraid we might position ourselves where we will be asked questions and don’t know the answers.  Have you been reluctant to take a step of faith because you didn’t feel you knew enough to satisfy the questions still bouncing around in your own head?  I felt that way when approaching my current district leadership position.

I have been very captivated with 1 Peter 1:10-11 (NIV)  Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care,  trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.  That took courage to give prophecies about salvation and grace while not even understanding them.   Would you have the nerve to do that?

I suspect all of us have made statements that made sense when talking to our friends or family then later discovered our words meant far more than we thought.  In the last 24 hours I commented on a slightly misguided statement someone had made.  While doing so, I noted that what I said had never even entered my mind before saying it.  Yet something within me resonated my statement was true.  I knew it had come out of my spirit rather than out of my mind or emotions.

The prophets in this passage did not understand what they prophesied but they had the integrity to acknowledge they did NOT understand.  Admirably, they understood the Spirit was anointing them to speak, but instead of putting their own spin on the words, they “searched intently and with the greatest care” to gain more knowledge of them.  It was then revealed to them the words they had been anointed to speak were not even about them or their generation but for generations to come!!!  What might have happened if they had dogmatically taught their assumed speculations of what the Spirit had meant in the words given them?  They would have misguided many through the centuries.

It is important that we try to minister in faith. This means we may not fully understand the message we have been given yet can minister with humility remaining open to additional insights new to us.  Can we have peace with not fully understanding yet have the courage to teach, preach or share what we have found to be true?  How might that more noble approach to teaching controversial doctrines allow for there to be less divisions in the body of Christ?  How might that approach provoke others to maintain a searching heart to seek to learn more from God’s Word and have attentive “ears” for what the Spirit may want to say to us?  How might that approach minimize conflicts in relationships, especially in our marriages?  Such humility is vital to authentic Christianity.

I desire to have greater integrity and transparency in order to enjoy deeper peace within when I minister.  But I also want to provoke a hunger within others to study and learn more from God and His Word about things they don’t fully understand.  I wish I would have learned this truth earlier in my life!

Try as Connie and I do, we still misunderstand each other from time to time.  When we realize that we try to clarify each other’s expectations.  Expectations make a big difference for everyone.  But it is more frustrating when Connie tells me multiple times when an event is coming, and I still forget!   I’m grateful for her patience especially as I get older and my “personal computer” bogs down from overload.

Although Jesus had explained many things about the kingdom of God (e.g. the kingdom was within them) minutes before He ascended into Heaven His disciples …kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?” Acts 1:6 (NLT2) They obviously had heard but totally misunderstood what Jesus had taught about the kingdom of God!!  And now, Jesus would no longer be there to straighten out their thinking!

I’ve witnessed people misunderstanding, even misinterpreting, God’s promises in the Bible.  It is easy to read verses like Mark 11:24 (ESV), Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours; and Matthew 7:8 (ESV) For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened; then assume the Holy Spirit will answer what they request.  But that is clearly NOT the case!!

Jesus said to [blind Bartimaeus], “What do you want me to do for you?” Mark 10:51 (ESV)  He then received not only his healing but also his salvation!  Jesus also asked two of his closest disciples, James and John, virtually the same question, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:36 ESV) But this time, Jesus did not give them what they asked.

What!!  Why would Jesus say “yes” to the blind man He hardly knew and “no” to men closest to Him in ministry?  Consider the motive of the hearts behind each request.  Bartimaeus’ heart for Jesus would go on and faithfully share with others God’s grace to him, but James and John asked for what they would consume on themselves.  James explained it this way in James 4:3 (NLT2), And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.

Jesus clarified the issue when He said Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them Mark 11:24 (NKJV). What we ask for when seeking God’s heart will be very different than when pray seeking soulish lusts.

If God doesn’t give us what we ask, we should evaluate our prayers. Are our motives selfish? Are we asking for far less than God wants to give? (2 Ki 13:19; Ep 3:20). Are our requests worthy of the God we approach? Do we lack the faith God requires to give us our desires? (Mt 17:20).

Perhaps it might help if, before we ask, we filter our attitude with the Jesus’ words Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.   If we will ask according to His will, like Bartimaeus, we will receive far more than we anticipate! (Je 33:3).  Just think of all the gifts God has planned to give us when we align ourselves with His plan and purpose on this earth rather than our own selfish desires.  Can you imagine what power can be released in this world when that happens to all believers in Nebraska alone?

While attending college I took a local youth group to camp where the leader manipulated the youth to artificially speak in tongues.  I was appalled, determining to separate myself from that teaching if that was how it was supposed to be done.  The good side of that experience was my hunger for truth led me to research that doctrine in the Bible.  Through that I discovered truths about the gift of tongues I had never read or heard before.

When sitting in a seminary grad class on 1 Corinthians, the professor interpreted a passage about that gift of the Holy Spirit identical to what I had discovered in my studies.  I could hardly sit in my chair!!  I felt validated!!  I’ll never forget that professor!

Dallas Willard once raised the question, “Do you believe what Jesus believed—not just what He said but what He believed?”  Great question!  It is one thing to say, I believe what Jesus said, but quite another to say I believe what Jesus believed!  If I believed what He believed while on this earth, I would behave like He behaved and talk like He talked and even think like He thought.

What did Jesus believe about serving others when He taught the parable of the good Samaritan?  What did Jesus believe that motivated Him to forgive the woman who had broken the law by committing adultery then told her to, “Go and sin no more”?  What did Jesus believe about paying taxes when He told Peter to go fishing and he would find a coin in the mouth of a fish that would pay their taxes?  What did Jesus believe about forgiving others when He told the parable in Matthew 18:21-35 about forgiving from the heart someone who owed you something or who you felt had somehow abused you?

No one can believe what Jesus believed without first having a personal spiritual regeneration by the Holy Spirit.  Nor can one learn to believe as He believed without desiring to spend significant amounts of time mediating on God’s Word.  The Bible is an expression of God’s mind.  As a person reads and studies it intelligently, humbly and openly, that person comes to increasingly think like He thinks.  There is a natural connection between a proper use of God’s Word and the fruit of being connected to the vine as Jesus said.  John 15:1-2, 5-8 I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.  Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.  Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.  But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!  When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

I’m certainly far from thinking or believing all of what Jesus believed or thought.  But I so want to be that kind of Christ-follower!  That is one reason why I have such a passion to dig beneath the surface of what is said in His Word.  By His grace I am convinced that His Word will transform my way of thinking and believing.  If we dig in His Word together, we will be able to learn and be transformed faster.  Can we take this journey together?

Elijah, my youngest grandson, asked me to play a game with him.  Within five minutes of getting the game set up, he didn’t want to play anymore.  Hum!  His childish, short attention span was alive and well.   On the other hand, he absolutely loves playing games on his iPad.  He can become so riveted to his video games that he doesn’t hear grammy call him for dinner!  Are children capable of extending their attention span about important things before their mind properly matures?

I applaud school teachers, especially those who teach kindergarteners like our Elijah.  They not only have to teach the children their ABCs but also stretch their attention span.  I wonder if the teachers must be equipped with a touch of super patience to keep from going crazy trying to keep the children busy in an instructive way.  Wow!!

By adulthood, people’s attention spans have dramatically expanded—at least in some areas of life.  When speaking in a church recently, I had not even finished my introductory comments before one man’s head nodded and he was “out” (asleep)!  I wondered if spiritual truth was the only thing he struggled to concentrate on.  What is it about attention to faith or spiritual truth that makes it so vulnerable to becoming unattractive?

I recently reflected on Caleb and his sustained faith in God.  He was about 40 when he joined the other 11 spies as they crossed the border of Canaan in order to scope out the best way to take the land God had promised.  But 10 of them let giants in the land scare their faith out of them.  Those ten even led the majority of the Jews to vote against claiming God’s promise.  Only two adults subsequently survived the next 40 years of wandering in the wilderness and were able to finally enter the Promised Land.

Please consider this! Caleb was probably in his mid-80s when he requested of Joshua, Will you now give me this mountain of which the LORD spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim [giants] were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the LORD said.  Joshua 14:12 (NKJV)  Really, at 85 years of age??!!!  Get this, Caleb’s attention span of faith in God had lasted over 40 years!!!

When adults today hit 65-70 and are challenged to “take a mountain for God,” all too many find excuses to not engage in the work of the ministry.  What was it that kept Caleb’s faith in God as strong as it had been 40 plus years earlier?  Is your faith still as strong as when you were first regenerated by God’s Spirit?

I admire men and women like Monte Standage and Faith Tyson who after achieving retirement age, rise up and ask for another mountain to take.  Is your faith fit to take a mountain at your current age?  If not, join me in getting a grip on our desire for comfort, stirring up our spirit, and determine a strategy for expanding our attention span for love and service to our God.  Do whatever is necessary to make sure doesn’t fade with time.  Remind yourself of Paul’s exhortation to younger Timothy, …fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you.  2 Timothy 1:6 (NLT2)

Politics these days has become excessively prejudiced, even though the idea of being open minded and tolerate has been given so much air time.  Ironic!!  It appears as though people hear each other yet do not really hear.  Instead, they hear only what they want to hear.  They then take liberty to turn their interpretation of it and use it to leverage public opinion in a negative way.  Is this intentional or has it become so much a part of their psyche they actually believe they are reporting truth.  Have we passed the point of no return?

When reflecting on that, I asked myself how often do I hear only what I want to hear from God, my wife, family or my friends and then act unwarrantedly on my selfish interpretation.  I suspect we all do this to some degree.  It is how our brain works.  It is observable in children as well as the oldest of adults and equally sad and dangerous no matter who or what age it may occur.

I was intrigued how in Paul’s letter to his friend Philemon, he was tempted to presume or take unwarranted action but caught himself and refused to do so.  In that case, Philemon’s runaway slave (Onesimus) had managed to travel from Colossae to Rome and get a job serving prisoners, one of which was Paul.  In their conversation, Paul found out Onesimus was his friend’s slave.   Paul led him to salvation and enjoyed their growing relationship and especially appreciated Onesimus’ care for him.  He wanted that to continue but was convicted that he was selfishly presuming upon his friend by not sending Onesimus back to Philemon.

Paul followed his conscience and sent Onesimus, who had become like his “son”, back to Colossae along with a letter to his friend.  In the letter he wrote that while he knew he could have presumptively left the situation as it was, Philemon 1:14 (NLT2) I didn’t want to do anything without your consent. I wanted you to help because you were willing, not because you were forced.

What would I have done if I had been Paul?  Would I have voluntarily taken such a gut-wrenching risk to send a man who had become so close to me that I depended upon him back to his slave master not knowing what the outcome might be?  What would you have done?

These days we act presumptuously almost as casually as we eat a meal!  We presume upon our spouse, family, friends, government, etc.  Yet, God modeled the righteous way to live by refusing to presume upon us by giving you and I a free will.  Like Paul, He insists on us choosing to submit to His Almighty authority.  How have you been managing your freedom to choose to submit to Him?

Connie and I have been getting some major landscaping done in our back yard.  I’ve found myself repeatedly becoming so focused on it I kneel down to do some work before changing into my yard-work jeans.  When it becomes too dark and I go in the house, I realize I had gotten dirt and stains on another pair of pants!!  Now Connie has to wash another pair of pants and I feel guilty!

What is interesting to me is how water and laundry soap move through the fibers of material like my pants and carry out the dirt lodged within those fibers and make them look like new again.  Even though we can see and smell the difference, we are not able to see the soap and water working the cleaning process.

When we come to God, our minds and hearts are like my dirty pants, caked with twisted beliefs and bad attitudes, ugly feelings, corrupt habits and deeds, misguided dreams, hopes and fears.  We are so far out of alignment our soul groans with the agitation and turmoil from what is going on deep within while waiting for its redemption.

How is it that the sense of sorrow deep within us can somehow be made free, joy filled and clean again?  No counselor, brain surgeon or psychiatrist can bring the release and freshness to the mind, emotions, intuitions and conscience that our God can.  Titus 3:4-7 (NLT2) 4 But—When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, 5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. 6 He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. 7 Because of his grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.  Absolutely incredible!!

Like our clothes, unfortunately, we again soil our mind, emotions and spirit by the unintentional sins we commit.  The washing machine God uses to move through the fibers of our mind and spirit to keep us clean and make us more like Jesus, is our soaking or meditation on His Word.  Ephesians 5:26-27 (ESV) 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

We all value our washing machines that make our dirty clothes clean and usable again.  Do you realize that God’s Word does to our souls what a washing machine does to our clothes?  I suspect all too many of us are like young boys at kid’s camp who don’t take time to take showers or change dirty clothes.  We go for days without soaking and being washed by the water of God’s word.  God has designed for you and I to take spiritual showers in God’s Word so He can present [us] to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, …without blemish.  Oh, the absolute delight of the prospect of having no spots or wrinkles!!   This adds additional value to the time I spend in God’s word.

President Trump has popularized the phrase “fake news”.   I get it because I’ve had reporters hear what they wanted to hear me say then printed “fake news”.  But then, I’m sure I too have misunderstood what someone has said even if I didn’t print it.  Chances are, you’ve had that same type of thing happen to you.  Fake news primarily happens because a person jumps to a conclusion and makes a judgement without taking the time to get to know the speaker’s heart.  Jesus did say Matthew 7:1 (NKJV) “Judge not, that you be not judged.”  But He also said, John 7:24 (NKJV) “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”

Paul wrote a letter to Philemon from prison sending back to him a slave (Onesimus) who had run away from him and somehow ended up in Rome with Paul.  Paul had assisted in Onesimus’ salvation and in turn Onesimus had served Paul while he was in prison.  If you isolate verses 8-10 in the letter to Philemon, the words Paul uses can appear to be emotionally packed and certainly sound like he is manipulating his friend Philemon into treating his runaway slave in an honorable way.  However, by reflecting on the game-changing verses 10-12, you are able to gain insight into the heart that motivated those words.  In Paul’s case, for a male to write such things, you realize they were penned out of gut-wrenching feelings and purely out of God’s kind of love for both parties involved.

Jesus’ word and deeds were misunderstood, even by his own disciples who knew His heart!!!  His disciples understood His deity (Mt. 16:16), but they misunderstand what He taught about the Kingdom of God and His death.   Peter couldn’t believe Jesus would die on the cross (Mt. 16:22) and the disciples could not understand why the kingdom of God didn’t happen as they had expected (Acts 1:6).  But they followed Him because they knew His heart.  In contrast, those who had only seen His miracles and heard some of His teaching ended up calling for His crucifixion.  If you are certain your heart is right, and you are still misunderstood, rest assured you are in the finest of company with our Lord.

Too often our initial wrong judgments influence how we go on to feel towards that person for decades.  Those first-time impressions are hard to unlearn when later we get to really know the heart of that individual.   Jesus’ admonition to that type of behavior is Luke 6:37-38 (NLT2) “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven.  Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”

How quick are we to judge a person before we know their heart, but it doesn’t feel so good when others do the same about what we say or do.  Holy Spirit, please keep reminding me to relax, love others as You do and let You be the judge of what they say or do.  Please remind all of us to allow You to settle the score.

Solomon wrote Proverbs 17:22 (ESV), A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.  We all long for joy but all of us don’t have the same definition of what joy is.  Even within Christendom there is a great diversity of definitions for the word.  It is this confusion that sends Christ followers in different directions in their quest for what they believe joy to be.  They have a strong tendency to be driven to seek joy from outside of themselves rather than within themselves. Like the old saying, “All that glitters is not gold!”  A smart-watch I purchased looked attractive on paper, but it totally failed to meet the advertised specs and therefore brought me frustration instead of any form of pleasure.

The church has rightly advertised many Bible promises that say we can have a joy the world cannot give.  Yet, so many Christians restlessly bounce from one church or ministry to another looking for something or someone to bring them joy.  They even find excuses to emulate behaviors of unbelievers if what they do appears to offer them temporal joy.   How can that be?

In Luke 10 Jesus appointed 72 disciples and sent them out to every town and place He was planning to go.  Verse 17 says they returned with joy.  Based on what they told Jesus, doing signs and wonders had become their source of joy.  Jesus then rebuked them saying in verse 20 (ESV), “…do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”  Jesus correcting them for doing what He had sent them to do must have left them a bit confused.  Isn’t it normal to have a sense of exhilaration when the Holy Spirit uses you to do something supernatural.  So WHY would Jesus redirect them as He did?  He knew there was a fine line between the joy drawn from a relationship with Him and that drawn from doing His spiritual work!  And unless He clarified that for them early on, Satan would later use it as a snare to defeat them.  How so? Joy that comes from doing His work is temporal because it is based on external stimulation and therefore can be very addictive.    That stimulus can then subtly lead a person to just using God instead of loving Him with all their being!  I know because I have fallen into that snare more often than I care to admit.

Contrast that source of joy with what happened in Acts 16 when Paul and Silas were severely beaten and thrown in prison (a dungeon) when they had been doing God’s work.  Sitting in prison with aching, bloodied bodies, instead of feeling sorry for themselves or wondering why God allowed them to go through that when doing His work, they were praying and singing hymns to God!!  Obviously, the source of their joy was not on their circumstances or anything extrinsic. It was totally coming from their inner being and based upon their relationship with our Lord.  They had His joy — a pervasive sense of well-being that brings great cheer regardless of circumstances or performance, not human joy that only temporarily stimulates the human senses — an ever so slight difference yet profoundly different.  It seems it was this truth that motivated Jesus to redirect the 72 disciples from feasting on the extrinsically generated temporal joy, as good and noble as those deeds were, to a joy that would be far more enduring and energizing.

We don’t have to do anything except love Him with all that is within in order to enjoy His joy.  Psalm 16:11 (ESV), You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.  That joy will result in right deeds but will not be the motivation for them.  What have you been drawing your joy from?  Has it been related to your performance or circumstances or to the intimacy of your relationship with your Creator?

My philosophy of life used to be ‘expect the worst and hope for the best’.  My rationale was that if I expected the worst I wouldn’t be disappointed with whatever happened.  And I could feel good even if reality turned out not to be the best.  I preferred to be more optimistic about life, but my life hadn’t been a bowl of cherries.  I suspect it was my defense mechanism motivating me to think that way since, like most people, I’m not fond of having bad things happen.  My dad chided me for thinking that way.  After Connie and I got married, God used her to also chide me about my wrong perspective of life.

I knew that is not how a Christian should think but try as I might, I couldn’t help myself.  Through the years, the Holy Spirit has done what I had not been able to do for myself.  Now it is rare that I even use that phrase—Praise be to God!!  Albeit, while I’ve shifted out of that stage, I still am not as optimistic as I would like to be.  Perhaps that is why Paul’s words have attracted my attention.

He seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time in prison—not the ideal place for a man of God.  Ironically, while he wasn’t there for having done something illegal, could it have been that the Holy Spirit hand arranged for him to be in prison so much.  Surprised to read that?  Think about it.  Most of the books of the Bible he authored were written in prison.  I suspect he was such a Type A personality that he couldn’t slow down long enough to write them.  So, like Psalm 23:2 (ESV) He makes me lie down in green pastures, I suspect God used prisons to make Paul slow down and write so you and I would learn from what the Holy Spirit inspired him to write.

In prison Paul put a spin on his circumstances that was certainly more optimistic than how I used to think.  He wrote Philippians 1:12 (NLT2) And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. Is that the spin you would have put on unjustly sitting in a prison?  Injustice is hard for anyone to take!  How was he able to think that way, much less write it?

I believe he had come to see himself as being “in Christ” to the point that whatever happened to him was allowed by the Spirit for the good of the kingdom of God.  It was natural then for him, when being unfairly put in prison, to immediately look to see how this imprisonment might provide God’s salvation to others (Philippians 1:13; Acts 16:19-34). When he was assaulted by an angry mob, he immediately used it for an opportunity to preach the gospel to them (Acts 22:1-21).  Even when he was shipwrecked (imagine that trauma), he grasped that opportunity to share the gospel.  Wow!

Paul’s response was not a result of self-discipline alone!  It was a result of the Spirit enabling Paul to come to believe as Jesus believed in the same way the Spirit has enabled me to change my philosophy of life.  It is easy for us to say we believe in Jesus, but it is a whole different thing to believe as He believed.  I’m very challenged by Paul’s responses.  My goal is to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in coming to know our Lord intimately enough that I genuinely believe what He believed and thereby naturally respond as He responded.  Paul shows us that is possible!  Jesus said John 15:5 (MSG) I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing.  Will it require the Holy Spirit to make you lie down in green pastures before you will come to that place in Him?

A very encouraging insight dawned on me in one of my recent quiet times that has gripped me for several days.  This could be a game-changing perspective for you as it was for me.

The Spirit inspired Paul to repeat one basic thought three times in Colossians 3.  Colossians 3:1-2 (ESV) If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  In verse 4 he refers to the reward for having done so.  Colossians 3:17 (ESV) And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus [with a heart set on things above], giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:23-24 (ESV)  Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord [with a heart set on things above] and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Did you notice the focus was not on what was done but why it was done?  The qualifier was that the efforts were motivated from having one’s mind set on things above or unto Christ.  Could that be saying that in His eyes whatever work driven by that motivation will result in the same inheritance as your reward.   Meditate for a moment on that.  I believe He is saying here the most important thing is NOT the work itself but our motivation that flows from our attention being riveted on things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Have you felt or imagined that those doing the big or important things will get the more impressive rewards?  I’ve sometimes felt that my reward will be small compared to those who influence more people or give more time or dollars than I am able to give.  But that is NOT what the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write.  He is saying the invalid who prays or gives; the child who shows His love to others; the minister’s wife who must remain at home with the children; the usher, the sound or light technician, the secretary, the grounds keeper can all receive the same great inheritance. It doesn’t really make any difference if you are a minister of a big church or small, city or rural, in a beautiful or desolate place, in the states or out of the states; the reward is not based on your performance but on the attitude of your heart towards God as you do it.  In that light, the person who pastors a church or does a job that doesn’t fit them, may be doing it as a sacrifice of obedience unto the Lord in contrast to someone who is working for the sheer pleasure of the work.

For me, Paul’s emphasis upon focusing my mind on things above is really another way of telling me I need to see myself being in Christ (Col. 1:2, 28), seated on the right hand of the Father, then committing to do everything from that perspective!  Contrasting that thought with the view of me doing the work with Christ “in me” (Col. 1:27), it brings to light a different perspective and nuance in motivation and responsibility.  When we only focus only on the “Christ in me” truth, we essentially remain in the driver’s seat and therefore control what we will allow the “Christ in me” to do.  But when we see ourselves as being “in Him”, seated in the heavenlies, we are like a baby in a mother’s tummy with no control over what is done.  Seeing our self that way forces us to relinquish the control of whatever we might do unto Him—as well as the angst and stress!

What a great relief it is to know I am not responsible for making whatever I do unto the Lord effective.  It is the responsibility of the Author and Finisher of all of it, and I end up receiving some of the “glory” plus a great reward for having worked with Him!  How does that truth affect you?