Grow With Pastor Joe

Devotions for the Head, the Heart, and the Home

Rom. 12:11

Read: I remember being a kid and having chores to do. Many of my chores were not things that were listed on a board or job description. The chores that I saw most commonly each day would come directly from my Mom or Dad as they saw needs, then, seeing me fit to fulfill them, call on me. It might have been something like, “Can you take out the trash?” Or, “Hey, can you run the vacuum in the dining room.” You get the picture. Now, I can say that beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was not one single time that when the opportunity to leave my room, the couch, or my makeshift basketball court outside to go and do the chore that Mom or Dad asked me to do presented itself to me that I gleefully jumped up to obey them. I did obey, but boy was my attitude sorry. Many times the things that God asks of us are not so difficult. The reality is, anything that God requests from us He givesus the resources to do. What I couldn’t see as a child was that my parents were giving me opportunities to learn and live obediently before God. Everyday (truly each moment) we are presented with different opportunities, many times they look like obligations. However, even your routine obligations are opportunities to be fervently faithful to God. The word fervent deals with an emotional stirring up with eagerness to act. I must confess, many times God has wanted me to do the simplest of things (read, pray, repent, fellowship, witness, give etc.) and I have missed the opportunity because I saw it as an obligation. All of life is in service to the Lord. This means that everything in my life is an opportunity to exercise obedience. Faithfulness sounds boring and mundaine. It often is. But, we should be fervently (eagerly/earnestly) faithful (obedient) at every opportunity. Each moment is an opportunity to be fervently faithful to the Lord and give Him glory!

Reflect: Discuss or write down the different opportunities in your daily life that allow you the opportunity to be fervently faithful to the Lord.

Rest: Rest your head, heart and home in the faithfulness of Christ. He is never unfaithful though we often are.

Respond: Each day, ask God for discernment for each opportunity and a desire to be obedient to Him. By faith, be fervently faithful to Him in all things