Nancy Taylor Tate
Did you ever hear the expression, “When it rains, it pours”? Sometimes it seems like that, as urgent matters press in on us from all directions. Yet even in those moments, as we pause and look to the Lord, we can receive grace and wisdom for the tasks at hand.
What pleases the heart of God is not so much the task we do, but that we do it as unto the Lord, and are found faithful. The parable in Matthew 25:14-30 tells of two servants being rewarded. Though what they had varied, both were rewarded for being faithful with what they had. The Lord was displeased only with a third servant who had done nothing with what he had been given.
I love this story about Martin Luther: As he was working in his garden, someone came by and asked, “If the Lord was returning tomorrow, what would you do today?” He answered, “Hoe my garden.”
As newborn babes in Christ, we have been predestined to be conformed into the image and likeness of Christ. (1 Peter 2:2; Romans 8:29) As we learn to fulfill our responsibilities in a way that pleases Him, there is an inward working of the Lord that takes place as we die to self and choose to do that which is right, the best we can, as unto the Lord.
As we make room for quiet moments with the Lord, we find the strength to make right choices. As we make those right choices, we are changed. It becomes not just my choice, but my nature, to do that which is right, the best I can.
In the midst of the many pulls of life, may we remember to look up to receive His grace and strength! The testimony of “Praying Hyde” became very real to me a number of years ago; he said that after the Lord caused him to understand 2 Timothy 1:8, and what it meant to live “according to the power of God,” he seldom was tired even though at times he had little sleep.
Oh, to learn to live according to the power of God! To allow that power to work inside us, as it also gives us strength! God gives His enabling grace for all those things He has called us to do. When I lack that grace, I look at what I am doing, to see if I have allowed more to be pushed onto my plate than what God desires.
In Him we live and move and have our being! (Acts 17:28) May we find His strength today, and tomorrow, as the Lord works deep within our hearts, making us partakers of His divine nature, that Christ might be seen in and through us! (2 Peter 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 1:10)