The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"All Our Doings"
I love a piece of classical music called "Dishes Are Never a Chore," written for the score of a movie of many years ago. I have listened to it many times while writing these messages, and do so now.
"Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord" (Colossians 3:23).
Of course, washing dishes and thousands of other daily responsibilities often feel like chores. Life can be drudgery if we do not realize the Life that indwells and involves itself (Himself) as we perform our daily duties. However, if the Lord Jesus Christ is present and active in all we do - "to live is Christ" - "chores" can become opportunities to know and experience His living presence as we do them "heartily, as to the Lord" (Philippians 1:21).
The word "heartily" speaks powerfully to this subject. It means "from within," suggesting believers do what we do from our Lord's active and vital presence in us. In our present existence, this involves the faith to believe that we do what we do not merely as ourselves, but as ourselves inhabited, motivated, led, and empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit. This transforms earthly chores into Heavenly ministries whereby we may please and honor our Heavenly Father by what we do, and how we do it. Indeed, what if we wash dishes, rake yards (it's autumn), vacuum the car, and do all we do not alone, but in the living presence of the risen Christ? What if He privileges us to affirm this truth by faith, and then works in us and walks in us as we do? He does, and the better we know that God means our lives to be lived as a "We" rather than merely a "me," the better we will realize the gift of life He gave to us in His beloved Son and our beloved Savior. "I will dwell in them and walk in them" (II Corinthians 6:16).
Sometimes we think of the Holy Spirit's indwelling in terms of overtly spiritual practices such as prayer, reading of Scripture, witness, and obvious Christian ministry to others. Certainly this is true. However, for even the busiest saint laboring in the fields of harvest, countless other matters must be addressed wherein the Lord Jesus can be glorified as He dwells and walks in His people - "Whatsoever ye do." The "chores" of life, in the vastness of their mode and measure, must be done with the determination to honor our Lord no less than in the obvious opportunities to bear witness to Him.
False religion involves rituals and ceremonies, seeking to infuse God and reality into life. Genuine godliness, conversely, involves the reality of how much our Lord saturates His creation and our hearts and lives. "In Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). Indeed, do not have to wait for religious times, seasons, and observances to know and honor our Lord. Every moment rather teems with His vibrant presence within our hearts, awaiting our faith whereby "Whatsoever ye do" can be be done "heartily, as to the Lord." Dishes, or any necessary task, a chore? Not if done with, by, and through a present and active Lord Jesus. He is all of those in the hearts and lives of born again believers, and in the privileged responsibilities of all our doings…
"Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
(I Corinthians 10:31)
"But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years."
(Galatians 4:9-10)
Weekly Memory Verse
"The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth."
(Ephesians 5:9)
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