"Whatsoever"

"Whatsoever"  

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

   

    The command to do all things "heartily, as to the Lord" actually implies one of the most wondrous promises of Scripture.  Our Heavenly Father offers to us the opportunity to live vibrantly in this and in every moment by doing what we do "of Him, and through Him, and to Him" (Romans 11:36).

    First, "of Him."  The God who created us and spiritually birthed us when we believed in Christ must also be known as our Originator in everyday, practical terms.  We seek to live from His purposes and plans rather than our own, asking Him to begin our days and our ways.  Furthermore, we seek His redirection concerning matters that did not begin with Him, and protection from future commencements that originate in carnal or even devilish deceptions.  "Remove far from me vanity… There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Proverbs 30:8; 16:25).  Confidence that our doings begin with the Lord leads to a heart of peace and an enthusiasm regarding "whatsoever."

    "Through Him."  We "live and move and have our being" in God (Acts 17:28).  "Without Me, ye can do nothing" declared the Lord Jesus of a living that genuinely constitutes life (John 15:5).  Living heartily requires His presence, His power, and our availing ourselves of Divine enabling for human living.  "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13).  Recall that "whatsoever" we do (excepting sin) can be lived "to the Lord".   Thus we may confidently seek our Savior's leading and enabling for any and everything in life, be it obviously spiritual or seemingly mundane and inconsequential.  The truth of the matter is that nothing is that everything matters in the life of born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Everything possesses the potential to bear eternal consequence as we live "of Him and through Him."  The Apostle John stated the blessed matter in the clearest terms: "God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him" (I John 4:9).

    "To Him."  Realizing that we can honor and please our Heavenly Father in big things, little things, and all things in between fills our lives with life, His life.  Only the most meager and sparse view of the Gospel leads us to believe that authentic relationship with God requires special places, postures, and practices.  The Lord Jesus put an end to such limitation in His discourse with the woman at the well: "Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father.. the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth" (John 4:21; 23).  No truth of Scripture should more thrill and encourage us.  Living to and for the Lord constitutes life in its only true definition, or as the Apostle Paul exulted, "To live is Christ" (Philippians 1:21).  This means that I can seek to write this essay, in this moment, to and for Him.  Or I can wash the car or walk the dog or "whatsoever".  Everything can be viewed as our offering to God, as enabled by indwelling Spirit of the Lord Jesus who declared of His devotion to the Father, "I do always those things that please Him" (John 8:29).  This moment offers such opportunity, and let us rejoice in possibility of "whatsoever" worship, unfettered by circumstance, place, condition, or circumstance.

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

(I Corinthians 10:31)

"Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him."

(Colossians 3:17)

Weekly Memory Verse 

   One thing have I desire of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.

(Psalm 27:4)