The importance of Man living to please God!

24 Jun 2024 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Colossians 3:23.        And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

Chuh man! Another Monday…another work week. And yes, many of us don’t like the equation: Monday equals work, but that’s the only way the equation we all LOVE: Friday equals pay day, will ever come to pass. (smile) Oh friends, we cannot get away from work…and besides work is good for us, it keeps us busy and adds challenges to our lives, gives us a reason for getting up every day. (smile) For as Cousin Sol declares from his immense wisdom: ‘In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips (idle chatter) tendeth only to penury (poverty).’ (Prov. 14:23) And that’s the gospel truth! 

But above all, let’s remember we’re not working for ourselves but for God. Bruh Paul said it very clearly in Colossians: ‘And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.’ (Col. 3:23-25) It doesn’t get any clearer than that my brethren. In the long run, it’s Christ we all serve, although men may be our earthly masters. 

And these two commentaries give us some inkling of what it really means to work for God. The first says: ‘We are told to work with all of our hearts, no matter what we are doing and to do so as though we are “working for the Lord” and not for humans. These Bible verses about work ethic tell us that no matter what we are doing we must persist as though we are serving God and not man.’ 

And the second commentary declares: ‘So, I conclude, yes, God enlists us into his service, which means he calls us to have a part in accomplishing his purposes, not meeting his needs. And he accomplishes his purposes precisely by supplying the grace to do our work, because the giver gets the glory; the servant gets the joy.’ That reminds us of Bruh Paul’s words in Philippians: ‘For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of (according) to his good pleasure.’ (Phil. 2:13) 

Yes friends, we are made in God’s image to fulfill His purposes, not our own. And until we understand that, we will always get caught up in the quandary of working for men or working for God. It’s so much simpler to just conclude that all we do is for God, although we might be working under human masters, for God is the Master of the universe, as Daniel says when he received the night vision revealing to him the answer to King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream: 

‘Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up (raises up) kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know (have) understanding. He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.’ (Dan. 2:20-22) 

And if you don’t believe that, then listen to what King Nebuchadnezzar says in Daniel after the Lord drove him crazy for seven years, for his haughty boast. ‘Is it not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom (a royal dwelling) by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?’ (Dan. 4:30) And while the king was yet talking the Lord decreed His sentence upon him, and for seven years he lost his mind, was like a wild animal. 

Then at the end of the seven years, Nebuchadnezzar regained his mental equilibrium and commented thus: ‘And at the end of the days (time) I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: 

And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed (considered) as nothing: and he doeth according to his own will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay (restrain) his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? … Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of the heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgement (justice): and those that walk in pride he able to abase (humble).’ (Dan. 4:32-35, 37) 

Now my people, if a pagan king can sing those mighty praises to our God, after firsthand experience of His awesome power, what is expected of us eh, His true believers? Humble adoration, reverential awe, much thanks and praise, obedience to His holy will, Number One in our lives…amongst other things. (smile) And having made up our minds to do as we ought, let’s go to the throne of grace, through our Monday Morning Battle Hymn, seeking divine aid in these turbulent times.

Altogether: ‘Our Father, who art in heaven, we, Your humble servants, praise Your Holy Name and thank You this Monday morning for life and strong faith in Christ, despite the mass confusion in our world. Heavenly Father, You are the ONLY ONE with the power to solve our many problems. Yes, we have all sinned and seriously disobeyed Your Word, but You are a merciful, forgiving and gracious God, who has faithfully promised to hear and answer our prayers when we humble ourselves, pray, and sincerely seek Your face. 

So, we come to You now, with sincere repentance in our hearts, pleading for wise guidance and direction to alleviate our problems. Oh Father, please ease the pain of the many suffering from negative situations, show them Your awesome grace and mercy. And faithfully keep Your promise to prosper us if we turn from our evil ways. Show this evil world that You are indeed Jehovah Rapha; the God who heals! We pray this in the holy and blessed name of Your Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen! And again, we say: Amen!’ 

And we begin by humbling ourselves, praying and sincerely seeking God’s face! Much LOVE!

…the earth is the Lord’s…and the fulness thereof…the world…and they that dwell within… (Ps. 24:1)

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

Today’s Scrip-Bit   28 December 2022 Colossians 3:2.

28 Dec 2022 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Colossians 3:2.       Set your affection (mind) on things above, not on things on the earth.

Can you believe it’s already Wednesday, the middle of the work week! And today is the first day some people are going out to work! It’s sure good to have Christmas fall on the weekend. But I wonder how much work is going to get done this week, with the Christmas celebrations still holding us in grip, and all the exciting and wonderful memories we have to share. Then, adding the upcoming New Year’s Eve excitement, with all the amazing plans in store, I’m sure not much work will be done in next the few days. (smile) 

You can’t do much about it, because that’s just the nature of the human animal. But as followers of Christ Jesus, we are expected to always put our best foot forward and do what we’re getting paid to do, for though our employer might not be watching us, the Lord is certainly watching and evaluating us. Remember the words of Bruh Paul to the church at Colossae. ‘And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance (salvation): for ye serve the Lord Christ.’ (Col. 3:23-24) 

And though Bruh Paul was referring there particularly to the slaves of men, it also applies to us, possibly even more, because we are servants of the Living God. So, generally speaking we should not abuse our privileges at work, but do our best all the time, not only when our employer is watching. And since the year is coming to an end, and we’re talking about always doing our best for Christ’s sake, I guess it’s apropos for us to consider a couple of things that we should endeavour to accomplish in 2023. 

Like seeking the things that are above, as Bruh Paul explains to the Colossians. ‘If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection (mind) on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.’ (Col. 3:1-3) 

And the scholars explain that situation thus. ‘As all wisdom and knowledge reside in Christ (2:3) (In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.) So, the believer’s new life is stored up in Him. This means that the Christian life belongs to the spiritual or heavenly realm. Jesus is in intimate relation with God; so are his followers. And since the Colossians (and us) now belong to the heavenly realm and are intimate with God, they (we) should seek those matters and interests pertaining to heaven and not to earth.’ 

Yes my fellow believers, as followers of Christ, it’s essential that we concentrate on heavenly things and not all the ungodly things of the earth. Stuff like ‘current heretical philosophies, legalistic practices, and vices, nor should we dwell on things that are not wrong in themselves, (houses, jobs, careers, ambitions etc.) but can be wrong should they become priorities over Christ.’ And it’s ever so easy for us to make things of this world take priority over Christ, which makes whatever it is an idol! 

It’s therefore important in this coming year to have our priorities in proper order. Which, as Christ so plainly declared: ‘But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.’ (Matt. 6:33) Now that’s been our proverbial problem. We say we believe it, but we don’t act like we do. We still go out and try to make all the things we want happen in our own way and time, and only when we are unsuccessful, do we remember to turn to God. 

That brings us back to Bruh Paul’s advice to the Colossians, where he says: ‘When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore (put to death) your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection (passion), evil concupiscence (desire), and covetousness, which is idolatry.’ (Col. 2:5) That means ‘put to death all the various sins that exist, and seek to express themselves through different “members” of the human body. Inasmuch as they “are dead” to sin (vs. 3), they are to make this death to the old life a reality in daily living.’ Now that should be one of our major goals for this new year; being truly dead to sin in our daily lives. 

And Bruh Paul continues: ‘For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds.’ (Col. 3:6-9) 

And what a wonderful world we would have if just we believers would do as directed and give up the things of our old lives, before salvation, before receiving Christ as Saviour! That’s because we still do too much of that stuff; too much worldly thinking and sinful acts. We still engage in too much anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy and evil communication. If we just stopped or even lessened those five things, there would be such a great improvement in our individual lives, the church and the world at large. 

Now it’s not that difficult to do, if we concentrate on Christ’s direction: ‘A new commandment I give unto you, That ye LOVE one another; as I have LOVED you, that ye have LOVE one to another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have LOVE one to another.’ (John 13:34-35) And why can’t we have LOVE to each other eh my fellow saints? If we would just do what we are supposed to, then there’d be no cause for all the negative stuff that’s currently taking place among believers. 

And Peter puts it this way: ‘And above all things have fervent charity (LOVE) among yourselves: for charity (LOVE) shall cover the multitude of sins.’ (1 Pet. 4:8) Oh my people, LOVING each other is not always easy, but with God’s help we can certainly do much better than we’re now doing. And that’s what is expected of us in this new year of 2023. Now, let’s go home declaring (yesss!!!) our Wednesday Wail, letting all and sundry know of our wonderful position in Christ. 

Altogether: ‘Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: I’m so glad to be alive on this Wednesday! Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: Thank God the breath of life is still flowing through me on this Wednesday! I am halfway home. My hands are fixed securely on the plough, and I’m not turning back. I’m not looking back at the past, not focusing on what has gone before. But my eyes are fixed straight ahead; straight ahead to a glorious future with Jesus. Glory Hallelujah!’ 

And we like to add this l’il bit of encouragement. If we endure right down to the end with Jesus, then that future will be even more glorious than we can ever ask or imagine. So, let’s hang in there right to the very end nuh! Much LOVE!

…our world can be made better…if we believers make ourselves better…  

Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZ      

Today’s Scrip-Bit 5 August 2017 2 Chronicles 15:7.

05 Aug 2017 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 2 Chronicles 15:7.   Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded. 

It’s another new morning…somewhat cloudy, chilly and windy though! (smile) But we’re alive, and God is working diligently within us to bring us up to Christ’s standards. 

All glory and thanks be to our heavenly Father who takes such a wonderful interest in each and every one of His children, made so intimately in His very image! 

Well today is the big day; the day of the Caribana, sorry, Toronto Caribbean Festival Parade. Hn! Let’s hope that they have better luck than we did yesterday with the Pan Competition. 

Ah Lord eh! Would you believe that the day was going along quite well until around four p.m, when the skies suddenly darkened, then the heavens opened, and the rained poured down steadily for over an hour! 

Chuh! I was just about to leave home to go and meet my panman friend down the street by Leila’s Roti Shop. The plan was to get a couple of Leila’s nice, big, shrimp rotis, with a couple of banana Solos (T&T pop – the best drink to wash down a roti) then head down to T.O for an evening of beautiful and intense pan. 

I left home in the downpour because I knew my friend didn’t have a cell phone and he would be waiting there expectantly for me. But lo and behold, when I got to Leila’s the rain was still pouring down and the skies looked dark like night. 

We hung around Leila’s for a while – I ate half my roti and drank half my Solo (smile) but the rain didn’t look like stopping, and I certainly didn’t feel like driving into T.O in that downpour, with all the Friday evening traffic, to go and sit on the hard concrete steps of an open-air Lamport Stadium. 

So we decided to shelve the Pan Competition idea, and go home and spend some quality time with our families, because with that kind of weather it might have to be cancelled. And so in the still pouring rain, I dropped him home, then came home myself. 

But would you believe, that when I was almost home the ‘so and so’ rain stopped falling! Steups! And after that the evening was clear and beautiful. But by then I definitely wasn’t going back out. In any case my family and I had a good evening together. So it wasn’t too bad after all. 

Don’t even know if they still held the Pan Competition. And that was how my one evening of Caribana involvement passed. (smile) But it’s Saturday, so let’s see what quotes our friend Anselm shared this past week. 

It seems like he was in a positive frame of mind, since all of them dealt with positivity. Here is the first one: ‘Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.’ And that’s a verified fact! 

Now this next quote builds on the first: ‘Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.’ How could it not eh? 

Then: ‘In order to carry out a positive action we must develop here a positive vision.’ That’s only logical, since you can’t have action of any kind without some kind of vision. 

And this one is the biggie: ‘Positive thinking is more than just a tagline. It changes the way we behave. And I firmly believe that when I am positive, it not only makes me better, but it also makes those around me better.’ 

And is that ever so true my brethren! That’s why we’re constantly told to surround ourselves with positive people, because it rubs off, just like the negativity of negative people does. 

And the final quote: ‘Focus 90% of your time on solutions and only 10% of your time on problems.’ Now that’s advice of mythical proportions! (smile) Too many of us spend too much time belabouring and bewailing our problems, when we should be more focused on solving them. 

And there’s no better way to do all of that than by holding on tightly and sincerely to the encouraging and assuring words of our Bit. ‘Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.’ 

Now true believers should never have cause to doubt that statement, for the promises of our ever-faithful God are infallible. And we’ll close this series of messages with a couple of interesting and important scriptures. 

The first is from Peter, re being good stewards of God’s grace. ‘Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 

But rejoice, inasmuch as (to the extent that) ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 

If ye be reproached (insulted) for the name of Christ, happy (blessed) are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of (blasphemed), but on your part he is glorified.’ (1 Pet.4:12-14) 

Finally, listen to these words of absolute wisdom from Bruh Paul to the Colossians. ‘And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men, Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance (salvation): for ye serve the Lord Christ.’ (Col.3:23-24) 

Yeh friends, in ALL that we do, it is best to consider that we are serving Christ rather than men, since serving men can surely lead us down the path of unrighteousness. And who wants to tread that unwise path eh?  Much LOVE!

…the very word Christian…implies being strong and positive…like Christ…