Are you a Blessing?

It blesses God when we yield ourselves to him as vessels for his purposes. For example, in woodworking when you use the right tool for a job it gives you a unique satisfaction in using the tool that does it best. It reminds me of Tim "the tool-man" Taylor grunting in approval over the perfect tool for the job.

Each one of us are tools in God's toolbox. He has tasks he desires to accomplish on earth that are best done through human instruments. Though he has many tools he could use, there are certain tools that are better than others for each job.

God has designed us with a special purpose, as a special tool for a special job. He has uniquely gifted us with talents, passions and spiritual gifts to best fulfill his purpose for our life. No one else has ever been or will be designed and created quite like you! God wants to help us experience the thrill and satisfaction of finding that perfect niche that has been design specifically for each of us.

Colossians 3:23 explains what being faithful means: "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men" (NKJV).

Whether we are caring for our elderly parent, making widgets at the factory, or driving the church van, or spending quality time with our children, we are to do it heartily as we would for the Lord Himself.

Having a "kingdom mindset" will greatly help us in being faithful from day to day. A person with the kingdom mindset sees themselves as God's servant and is aware that they are under his authority at all times. Jesus illustrated the kingdom mindset in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30). In the parable, the master entrusted his money to his three servants prior to a journey. Upon return, he rewarded the two servants who had invested the money. He rebuked the third who had not invested, gave his portion to the most profitable servant, and had him punished severely.

The kingdom mindset recognizes that we will give an account to God, just as the servants gave account to the master. God entrusts many such resources to us and expects us to put them to use for his interests. At the end of the age, we'll have to give an account to God for how we lived and what we did with what he gave us. Paul wrote:

"Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." 2 Corinthians 5:9-10 NKJV

Make each day count for Him in everything you do. You only go through life once, so do it right the first time...

Accept No Substitutes

Pick up any paper or read any article...for centuries humanity around the world has been looking for ways to substitute God to justify their actions. Even within our own culture, we have begun to loose our belief in God as a personal force, as the decider of their fate, as the ultimate judge for our actions. We only turn to Him, as our supreme authority, in times of distress, or when we face conditions beyond our ability to solve. The idea that God, the creator of man has become old-fashion. If that is true, we must accept a lower status from being formed in His Image to a product of some warm chemical stew. Many of life's problems have been relegated to chance or luck of the draw; our home environment as a disfunctional family, or forced to accepted a specific political agenda. Within Christ there are no substitutions; there are no means of explaining away or relegating simply social fades with a stroke of a pen in the hall of government offices.

People today are trying all sorts of ineffective and destructive substitutes for God -- Astrology, philosophy, paganism, alcoholism, drugs, science, money, pleasure, etc. -- all will not make life easier, in fact will only confuse their relationship with Christ. People cannot run far enough away from God to turn a life from chaos to final peace through their own power. Families disintegrate, the social order collapses, and people make a mess of their lives! There are no substitutes! The dilemma of modern man is...we still try to control our own lives as if we really had the ability to do so.

In Yamine B. Mermer paper The Ever-Present God of Revelation, he suggests and I quote...

"Man is not mere flesh and blood. He has been endowed with the most comprehensive faculties and senses ever designed. He has such hopes and desires that nothing except eternal happiness can satisfy them. He continuously suffers the pain of separation from his objects of love and attachment. Moreover, he knows he will ultimately leave all of his loved ones and go alone to the darkness of the grave. It is therefore clear that man cannot reach happiness as long as his needs which spread through every part of the world, and his desires, which extend to eternity, are not satisfied. The fleeting pleasures of worldly life cannot bring about this happiness. Modern man lives in a vacuum of meaninglessness. In order to remedy this situation, he attributes to himself and to things around him fictitious meanings. He claims to be his own master although he knows very well that he is not. As a result, he is bound to live in an imaginary world, which is in conflict with reality. This situation is not restricted to personal life; it is characteristic of all areas of modern life, including philosophy and science. Indeed, how can man understand the world without having recourse to knowledge truth -- and it is not possible to escape from this obligation -- main is in need of a permanent historical matrix that will tell min once and for all what norms, what universals ought to govern his understanding of life. Then, from this vantage point that matrix will provide, he will be able to look at the reality of things. In absence of such universal matrix, all claims to understanding are arbitrary fancies."

Certainly, no matter how modern a civilization, it cannot deliver on its promises; material wealth does not yield happiness. Accepting any else but the real thing will not put your life in order. Christ's love cannot be substituted. The sooner we realize it the better off we will be.