“Whatsoever”

(Friends: I had another message all set to go, but then the dishes needed washing, and…)

     What if that everyday, seemingly menial and monotonous tasks at home, at work, or wherever actually constitute an opportunity for spiritual worship, devotion, and meaningful response to God?  They do.  I thought of this last night as the dishes needed washing, and I initially felt burdened by a chore rather than blessed by the Christ who involves Himself in every aspect of our lives.

    "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord" (Colossians 3:23).

    This is the glory of genuine experience of God, and response to Him.  We do not segment our lives into the spiritual and natural, but rather see altars everywhere.  "Unto the pure, all things are pure" (Titus 1:15).  What we do, and how we do it infuses the "whatsoever" reality of the Lord Jesus Christ into moments no longer menial when viewed in the light of "as to the Lord".  "I have to wash the dishes" becomes "I get to wash the dishes" if done "heartily" and with the attitude of honoring and pleasing our Heavenly Father.

    I felt tired as I began to perform that chore last night.  I still felt tired even after remembering the opportunity that presented itself in washing the dishes.  No bright lights flashed, no heavenly peals rang through the ceiling of our kitchen, and nothing of spectacular spiritual importance seemed to happen.  I simply washed and dried the dishes as usual, but with a heart and mind toward remembering that the first purpose for everything we do involves honoring and pleasing the Lord.  I sought to do a good job, of course, and I affirmed to the Lord that what I did, I did for Him.  I think that's enough in most cases.  Oh yes, and one more thing: I'm writing to you about the blessedness of "whatsoever" in the hope that it might encourage and challenge your own experience of everyday events becoming portals through which we view eternal realities.  The Lord is at hand, and in heart.  What we do, we do with Him and for Him.

"Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

(I Corinthians 10:31)

Weekly Memory Verse

    For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."

(Romans 5:10)