Ohhhh, Friends. Isn’t it in the smallest things that we find the greatest “ah haa moments” ?
Just yesterday, I asked my son to clean his room. As most ten year olds do, he bantered back and forth with me, “Maaaaaa, it’s summmmmer”, and “Maaaa, I cleaned my room yesterday!” Finally, when I mentioned the upcoming consequence, he begrudgingly ran upstairs, shut the door, and from my knowledge did what he was supposed to do.
About an hour later, I heard him running down the stairs and in all excitement, approached me with his hand outstretched and a smile on his face… “Mom, look at what I made for you!”
Lo and behold there it was- a marvelously handmade “Starburst ” rainbow loom bracelet that he had been trying to master for weeks. First, I told him how beautiful it was and thanked him, then I walked up the stairs, opened up his door, and peered into a room that hadn’t been cleaned.
I yelled down to my son, and asked him to come upstairs. I questioned him why he didn’t clean up his room, like I had asked. He replied, “Mom, I was too busy making you a bracelet.” I looked at him and said, “Grant, I love that you made me this bracelet, but you weren’t obedient to what I wanted you to do. You served me the way you wanted to serve me, rather than doing what I asked.”
Then I stopped dead in my tracks.
How many times have I served God the way I wanted, rather than the way He wanted?
The last thing I want to do is to enter heaven to have God say,
“Janelle, that was a delicious meal you made for your neighbors, but did you share with them the Gospel with them?”
“He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.’ ” ~Mark 16:15
I can think of a ton of other ways I have served the Lord. They are all good, but are they replacing what he has called me to do or are they in addition to what he was called me to do?
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and that is a gift of God- not by works so that no one can boast.” ~ Ephesians 2:8:9
I will leave you with this….
Jesus Christ lived a sinless life, a life we are all incapable of living. He died for our sins on the cross and rose so that we could have eternal life. All we have to do is admit that we are sinners and put our faith into what He did for us. We will mess up, we will not ever be perfect, nothing we do will ever earn our salvation- just what He did. One day every tongue will confess… He is God.
The Gospel:
“Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
~1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Love to you,
Janelle
