EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 2023.
SUBJECT: STOP MAKING EXCUSES!
Memory verse: "For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that." (First Corinthians 7 vs 7.)
READ: Romans 12 vs 4 - 8:
12:4: For as we have many members in one body, but all members do not have the same function,
12:5: so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.
12:6: Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;
12:7: or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching;
12:8: he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
INTIMATION:
All God’s works are marvelous, and all His creations are wonderful and are useful to Him for His predetermined purposes. Nothing that He created is useless to Him. All natural positions are gifts from God. And none is morally better than the other, and all are valuable to accomplishing HIs purposes. It is important to us to accept our present situation, knowing that your present situation is a tool in God’s hands to achieve His purposes. Our limitations does not limit God, therefore, cannot be an excuse in your ministry or service.
If you're not involved in any service or ministry, what excuse have you been using? No excuse is admissible in ministry. All the people used by God in the Bible had their limitations which never excused them in ministry or service. Abraham was old, Jacob was insecure, Leah was unattractive, Joseph was abused, Moses stuttered, Gideon was poor, Samson was codependent, Rahab was immoral, David had an affair and all kinds of family problems, Elijah was suicidal, Jeremiah was depressed, Jonah was reluctant, Naomi was a widow, John the Baptist was eccentric to say the least, Peter was impulsive and hot-tempered, Martha worried a lot, the Samaritan woman had several failed marriages, Zacchaeus was unpopular, Thomas had doubts, Paul had poor health, and Timothy was timid.
That is quite a variety of misfits, but God used each of them in His service. He will use you if you stop making excuses. We have our different callings to serve, and each service is significant. God created us for His specific purposes, and it's His desire that we identify our pathway and follow it to achieve His purpose of creating us. But He left us a choice—to choose His pathway or ours. Obviously, your choice is made when you give your life for something. What will it be; a career, a sport, a hobby, fame, wealth? Or God's pathway for you to serve Him, and others. No choice you make, outside God's pathway of service destined for you, will have lasting significance.
When you identify your own gifts, ask how you can use them to build up God’s family. At the same time, realize that your gifts can’t do the work of the body of Christ all alone. Be thankful for people whose gifts are completely different from yours. Let your strengths balance their weaknesses, and be grateful that their abilities make up for your deficiencies. The apostle Paul uses the concept of human body to teach how Christians should live and work together. As the human body is, so is the Body of Christ. Each human part finds its significance on its vocation, but all function under the direction of the brain. So Christians are to work together under the command and authority of Jesus Christ, using our different gifts.
Service is the pathway to real significance. It is through ministry that we discover the meaning of our lives. As we serve together in God's family, our lives take on eternal importance. In human body, the eyes cannot do the work of the legs, nor the tongue the work of the stomach. When any part tries to do the work of another, it fails, and loses its significance. The Bible, in First Corinthians 7 vs 7, 20, 24, says, "..But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that. Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called."
When you are in the state you were called, God remains with you, hence your significance, because It is only in Him your hope of glory lies; "..Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Colossians 1 vs 28.) When one is outside of his calling, you hear people complain, "Upon all I am doing nobody notices me," "I am putting in my best, but it seems like nothing is done," "nobody sees my contribution, but when the other person does the same thing, people will be full of praise for him."
God wants to use you to make a difference in His world. He wants to work through you. What matters is not the duration of your life, but the donation of it. Not how long you lived, but how right you lived. What you might look at as a disadvantage may turn out to be an advantage in your ministry. In acknowledging God's uniqueness and goodness, the psalmist in Psalm 139 vs 14 says, "I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well."
God is perfect, and His works also are perfect. He never makes mistake, and is forever the same. Find your God's ordained path and follow it, and you will find real significance.
Prayer: Abba Father, thank You most precious God for Your marvelous works in me, and how You fearfully and wonderfully made me for Your predetermined purposes. Give me the grace to identify my ordained pathway that I may walk in it, and be relevance in service to You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.
PRAISE THE LORD!
