Contentment Breeds Significance
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Friday, November 11, 2011 • Randy Kilgore • Knowing God
"Then the King will
say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world' ...Then the righteous
will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or
thirsty, and give You drink? ...And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and
come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to
the extent that you did it to one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you
did it to Me.'"
--Jesus, in Matthew 25:34, 37, 39-40
There are moments in most of our lives when the days that lay behind us seem
not to amount to much.
There are moments
in most of our careers when we realize the journey has been more about us and
less about God.
There are moments in
most of our spiritual journeys when we wonder why God still listens to us since
we've listened so little to Him.
Those
moments often come in our darkest hours, when the present feels more mundane
than we can bear, or too oppressive to do anything but freeze in place.
It
is precisely those times when we need to be reminded that God loves us not for
what we've done for Him, but because He sees us adorned with the righteousness
of Christ. It is precisely those times
when we need to be reminded that "trying harder" is not the solution,
but rather "trying harder" becomes the obstacle to "being
closer". Yes, every Christian is
called to work for the Kingdom (James 1:22, II Corinthians 5:20), but none of
that work makes us more or less worthy to be called the sons and daughters of
Christ. It is the work of Christ, and
our union with Him, that brings us those titles.
We
must notice that the people Christ commended in Matthew 25 are
surprised by His commendation! They seem
not to have known the acts they committed were worthy of His notice.
("Lord, when did we...?")
We
must indeed attend to the tasks God lays before us each day, but only after attending to the task of
being in relationship with Him. For
reasons beyond our comprehension, God loves us and wants to be in intimate
relationship with us. Only in the shadow
of that cultivated relationship (through prayer, worship, fellowship with other
believers and careful reading of His Word) will the tasks of this day, and all
other days past and present, be redeemed by His blessing.
Without the context of that relationship,
those same tasks, no matter how noble or significant, will be mere striving
after wind, absent either contentment or eternal value. Within the context of that relationship, though,
those tasks, no matter how small or insignificant, are not only noted by Him,
but honored by Him for their eternal value.
Even our labors at work.
But
know this, too: Even when our awareness of His presence is strong, there will be
days when questions lay unanswered, when we struggle with the value of our work;
struggle with the impact of our lives. We must never measure the fruit of our
faithfulness by the view from our own perspective. Most of what we do that pleases Him happens
without us ever realizing its value.
"Seek
first His Kingdom", and "His righteousness", Jesus tells us, both of which are found not in action
but in relationship, and everything else, including our labors, become acts
that honor Him and matter now and eternally.
--Randy Kilgore
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