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Cleaning bathrooms is my least favorite task. It's thankless and meaningless.....or is it?
Today's devotion encourages us to look at mundane tasks through the perspective of a 17th Century Monk named Brother Lawrence.
Let Brother Lawrence teach you a life-changing principle from Scripture:
Cleaning Bathrooms
I wonder if modern Christians, myself included, truly understand what it means to have a godly fear of the Lord.
While generations past may have focused too strongly on the wrath of God, I fear that we modern Christians have ignored it.
We've created a god in our own image who is too soft and permissive to fear.
Those who reject Jesus have every reason to fear God in the way criminals fear honest policemen and godly judges (Romans 1:18; Hebrews 10:31).
As Christians we no longer need to fear God's wrath (1 John 4:18), but we haven't forgotten that wrath is a very real aspect of His character. And we aren't ashamed to admit it (Jeremiah 9:23-25).
Holy fear inspires reverence, love, assurance, comfort, contentment, and peace.
But it also inspires obedience, commitment, and a deep respect for every aspect of God's character - including His holy wrath.
Godly fear teaches us we're in no position to judge God's actions, argue with His Word, or ignore His commands because He is perfectly, fearfully wise and just.
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See below some of the passages of Scripture that call us to this holy fear:
Psalm 25:12; Psalm 31:19; Psalm 33:18; Psalm 34:7; Psalm 34:9; Psalm 85:9; Psalm 103:11; Psalm 112:1; Psalm 115:11; Psalm 115:13; Psalm 128:1; Psalm 145:19; Psalm 147:11; Proverbs 1:7; Proverbs 10:27; Proverbs 14:26-27; Proverbs 15:16; Proverbs 19:23; Proverbs 22:4; Proverbs 28:14; Ecclesiastes 7:18; Ecclesiastes 8:12-13; Isaiah 33:6; Malachi 3:16-17; Malachi 4:2; Luke 1:50; Revelation 11:18.
Don't miss this opportunity to study this subject more in today's Bite Size Bible Study where every Scripture is in full text and additional insights are given.
Scripture gives us wonderful word pictures because God is eager to help us understand His truths.
For example:
"My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water."
Jeremiah 2:13
Unbelievers may waste their time on worthless purposes, and that’s evil.
But when God’s people do the same, we commit two evils.
We waste our time on worthless purposes, and we forsake God-given purposes:
"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10
Instead of enjoying fresh, pure water from a spring, we build leaky cisterns where water stagnates.
Both require effort – fetching living water from the spring or building cisterns. But the cisterns require more and offer less.
Let’s ask God to show us areas of our lives where we might be pursuing worthless things and missing His purposes.
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A good supplemental reading for this devotion:
Lies Some Christians Believe: God Sees All Sins the Same.
In seminary, I befriended Lani when she almost walked into a wall in the cafeteria.
I saw that she was blind, got up to help, and we became friends.
It was fun helping her buy Christmas gifts in the campus book store. It was her first opportunity to choose gifts without family help - her first opportunity to surprise them. For me, it was challenging (but fun) to explain things to Lani without using colors or descriptions a blind person wouldn't understand.
Although most sighted people consider blindness the greatest disability, Lani is content and excited about life.
That’s because contentment is largely based on expectations. Lani has never had her sight.
On the other hand, she once told me that being deaf would be the worst thing she could imagine. I think that’s because she’s always been able to hear.
Lani's expectations are more honorable than many of mine. I expect far too much at times and confuse wants with needs.
The Apostle Paul tells us there’s a secret to overcoming these expectations and being content in every circumstance. Do you know the secret? Look HERE and HERE.
Jesus said the greatest commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30).
While heart, soul, mind, and strength are overlapping elements of our being, we can draw some understanding from each one.
♥ With all our Hearts – Loving God with affection and gratitude, as a child admires, loves, trusts, and depends on his godly parents.
Luke 12:32 and 1 John 3:1.
♥ With all our Souls – Embracing God fervently, aware that we owe Him our lives and every gift He gives us is undeserved.
Romans 12:1 and Philippians 3:12-14.
♥ With all our Minds – Letting God's Word renew our minds so we understand His thoughts and desires for our lives.
Philippians 1:9-11 and 2 Timothy 2:15 and Romans 12:2.
♥ With all our Strength – Consistently acting on God's Word and depending on His strength and power, not our own.
1 Corinthians 4:20 and Philippians 4:13 and James 1:22.
Let’s love our God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength and embrace His purposes each day (Ephesians 2:10)!
