Create a peaceful space to pause, and allow yourself to feel God’s presence alongside you, as near to you as your own breath. In following the reflection below, as a church we will draw closer to God and to one another as we grow in faith and deepen our sense of belonging to God.
Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, do it from the heart for the Lord and not for people.
I was forty when I started to learn the trombone. Before long, a friend talked me into joining the amateur orchestra she played with and, although I was rather out of my depth as the only brass player there, I loved it. To my relief at concert time a professional horn-player was one of those augmenting the orchestra and with him sitting next to me I was more confident. At the end of the concert, with a big smile I turned to him and said, “Well, it could have been worse!” “Yes” he answered gloomily – and quite seriously – “we could have been out there listening!”. In fact most of the audience had come to hear their loved ones play and were more than happy with our achievement. They hadn’t, after all, expected the LSO and knowing our limitations they knew we’d done our very best to produce a good sound.
As Christians ‘our very best’ is what God asks of us and, even more than those closest to us, he knows our limitations and when we are trying our hardest. He won’t ever expect more of us than he knows we can achieve. One translation of the verse above says, ‘In all the work you are doing, work the best you can’ – this involves enthusiasm and passion, and needs to reach all areas of our life, not just the things we enjoy. Having a good attitude to work makes a tremendous difference in our personal lives and in our Christian witness in the world.
Sometimes we can get so hung up on what’s happening in our ‘spiritual lives’ – our time with God, our prayers, our church services, our house groups and so on – that we fail to see that God wants to be with us just as much in our ‘everyday’ lives. We shouldn’t really see them separately. God doesn’t want us caught up in religion, he wants us caught up in relationship with him at every moment of our lives.
This verse puts the everyday things in perspective and shows how crucial they are. The way we love our friends and family, the way we honour our commitments, the way we finish tasks with integrity is as important to God as our worship – and he is with us in it all. This revolutionises living for us. It means that by doing our best with what we’ve been given, in whatever the task is, we’re honouring God and helping to usher in his kingdom.
Prayer:
including words by William Walsham How
Heavenly Father,
We give Thee but Thine own,
Whate’er the gift may be;
All that we have is Thine alone,
A trust, O Lord, from Thee.
May we always do our very best
in anything that we undertake,
using the gifts you have given us
to their full advantage and to your glory.
May we honour you every day of our lives
by living in relationship with you at all times and not just at special moments
that we set aside for you.
In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Reflection & Prayer © 2021 Ann Caffyn.
Image freely available online.
Hymn words no longer in copyright.
A printable version of this Daily Devotional can be downloaded from here
All material within this order of worship is reproduced by permission under CCL 1226356