Daily Devotionals – February 8, 2012
TODAY’S ENCOURAGING WORD – 2/8/2012
Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people
–Colossians 3:23, NLT
Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.
–Romans 12:18 NLT
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What Are You Looking At?
Laura MacCorkle, Crosswalk.com Senior Editor
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18, NIV
In “a previous life” and in a different job, I worked in a bull-pen situation.
For those of you who have not experienced this type of work environment, imagine this if you will:
A narrow room of maybe 100 x 400 feet. Four or five windows along the length of one wall. Exposed brick. Hardwood floors. High ceilings. Open-concept layout with desks for about 10 people.
Employees hollered across the room at one another to relay information, instead of phoning or instant-messaging. And most of the time, we would all just roll our office chairs across the floor to make our way from desk to desk.
Add in 10+ hour work days, music blaring (at each work station), phones ringing, keyboards click-clacking, voices chatting, a disco ball that came out after dusk (no kidding) . . . and well, you get the picture. Crazy as it were.
This was my life for about a year or so. But somehow, I learned to focus and get my job done despite all of the distractions. Looking back, I have no idea how I did it. I even did some writing while in this type of environment! Go figure. Most people require peace and quiet so that they may collect their thoughts and let the creativity flow uninterrupted. But in my situation, I had no choice. It was sink or swim.
Thankfully (and as fun as they actually could be at times), those circumstances were only temporary and didn’t last long. Nowadays, I have my own office again and am able to get my work done in a relatively calm environment. But you know what? I have trouble focusing!
Unbelievable, I know. But when I do a little personal inventory to figure out what’s distracting me, I see that it’s mostly internal and all in my mind.
There’s no one rolling past me in their chairs. No phones ringing or loud music playing. The noise is only in my head. Life issues, mostly. In fact, I just made a list of ten things that are distracting me right now and feel like they are sweeping over my life. They all seem to be crashing in and keeping me from the task at hand. They are “demanding” my attention and my natural response is to drop what I’m doing. To worry. To grow anxious.
Much like the disciples did when a storm overtook them in the Sea of Galilee (Matt. 8:23-27), I am not putting my faith in the Lord. “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Jesus asked them. I must ask myself the same question today. If God has power over all of nature, doesn’t he also have control over all of the elements affecting my life? A thousand times yes!
“What kind of man is this?” asked the disciples after Jesus calmed the storm. “Even the winds and the waves obey him!
What signifies “the winds and the waves” in your life today? No matter what we think we see overtaking us, let’s resolve to put our faith and our focus in what is unseen: the Lord of all creation, the Almighty God.
Intersecting Faith & Life: Make a list of everything that has got your mind tied up in knots today. Pray through these items and ask the Lord to help you not be overwhelmed and to fix your eyes on what is eternal.
Further Reading:
Hebrews 3:1, NIV
Proverbs 4:25, NIV
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Grounded in Truth
Make me know Your ways, O LORD ; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation ; For You I wait all the day. Remember, O LORD, Your compassion and Your lovingkindnesses, For they have been from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions ; According to Your lovingkindness remember me, For Your goodness’ sake, O LORD. Good and upright is the LORD ; Therefore He instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in justice, And He teaches the humble His way. All the paths of the LORD are lovingkindness and truth To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.
-Psalm 25:4-10
If we’ll let the truths of Scripture fill our minds, guard our emotions, and influence our conduct, God will richly reward us. I’m talking about spiritual blessings here (though He at times chooses to bless materially as well). By reading and meditating on His Word, you’ll learn to understand His ways. This isn’t something we can figure out on our own, because His ways are unlike ours—they are higher, bigger, and eternal.
Also, your relationship with the Lord will grow increasingly more intimate because He chooses to reveal Himself to those who seek Him and obey His instructions. When you see that God always keeps His promises, your confidence in His faithfulness will soar. No matter what the situation, you’ll know you can trust Him. Then He’ll transform your worries into joyful anticipation about what He’s going to do next in your life. Even if hard times await, you’ll be convinced that the Lord will work them out for good.
A life grounded in truth is powerful. Those who live by the Word develop spiritual discernment, which guides their choices and guards against deception. Because they demonstrate wisdom and godliness, the Lord enables them to impact others greatly. Since He knows they can be trusted, He also gives them greater responsibilities and opportunities for service in His kingdom.
With all this available to us, wouldn’t it be wise to invest our time and energy in building the truth of God’s Word into our lives? The other activities which clamor for our attention seem so important or pleasurable, but none of them can offer us the spiritual riches of a life grounded in truth.
For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
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You Want Me to Do What?
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Wednesday, February 08 2012
…”Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” – John 21:6a
The disciples were fishing. It was after Jesus had been crucified. Peter had gone through his most agonizing moment in which he had denied Jesus three times. He had lost a friend. No doubt he probably wondered whether the last three years were a dream. What now?
Peter had been prepared three years, but he was not going out to preach; he was going fishing. He had returned to his trade of days gone by. He had a level of experience with Jesus that no other human on earth can boast. This was the third encounter he was about to have with Jesus after His resurrection. Jesus looked to Peter and John in their boat and made a suggestion.
“Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
“No,” they answered.
He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some” (Jn. 21:6a).
Now, if you are as seasoned in your fishing as these guys were, wouldn’t you be a bit irritated if a stranger suggested that you simply put your nets over the other side to catch some fish? Yet we find that they took this stranger’s advice. Once they were obedient, the Lord revealed Himself.
When they followed Jesus’ advice, the catch was enormous – 153 fish in total. In most cases such a haul would have broken the net. Jesus invited them to have breakfast with Him – fish and bread; He had already started the fire. I can only imagine that this scene would resemble some buddies going out and camping together.
There is so much that we are to learn in this passage about God’s ways. As a workplace believer, we must understand that after we have spent years with Jesus, this does not always mean we must leave our professions in order to fully follow Jesus. Peter went back to his profession – fishing. It was here that Jesus asked him a simple question: Do you love Me and will you feed My sheep? He didn’t say to Peter, “Fishing is a waste of time for you now, Peter.” This recommissioning was in the area of his original calling – his work. We need not feel that we must go to the “mission field” to please Jesus. Our work is our mission field. We must, however, make a paradigm shift in our thinking about our place in the work world. We must have an overriding sense of mission and ministry that comes out of that work. This is what is meant when we say that we must all be circumcised before we can enter the Promised Land. When this happens, we can expect to see God fill the nets with His blessings. He wants to do this because He now owns the net, and He can trust us to manage it.
