Starting With The familiar

Good morning my friends,

As Christians we have this terrible mindset of believing that our effort is good enough in the things we do for God. It is like a busy mom who thinks that putting food on the table for her family is good enough. It may be enough to take the hunger pains away but is it nutritional? Does the food taste good? Is it presented in a way that is pleasing to the eye as well as the taste buds? Food is food, right? However, to do it well means that thought and effort has gone into the meal planning; nutritional values have been taken into consideration; the meal has been nursed through the preparation to insure that nothing is burnt and everything is cooked to perfection; the table is set properly; clean dishes are used. You get my point. To prepare a meal well takes time and effort. So does the work that the Lord has given to us to do.

An effort is not good enough when the Lord has told us to give our best. It takes time. It takes work. We may even sweat a bit. Yet, at the same time, the Lord has us do things that are familiar as he moves us into things that may not be so familiar. It is not like God is suddenly going to tell you to pack your bags and go to China to preach. He puts us through training so that we start with things we are familiar with. David is an example of this.

David became a mighty warrior and brilliant strategist. Most Israelites considered his years as king the golden age of Israel. Yet, he started as a simple shepherd boy. God started moving David into his greatness when he confronted David with Goliath. Now there was a test for you. As David heard this large man taunt God's people something stirred up in him, and even though he had never fought a man before, David knew he had to take this man on.

The king tried to dress David in the traditional garb of a warrior, wanting to give David as much help as possible. But these were unfamiliar tools to David. It was not yet time for these tools. So David used what he was familiar with. If it was good enough to defeat lions and bears than it would be could enough against this man. And it was. David used what he had been trained with to defeat God's enemy because the greatest training was what happened in his heart. David's greatest strength was his love and dedication to the LORD God.

David did not stay in the familiar but went on to become a great warrior. We are told that in everything he did he met with success. He did not just make an effort, he attacked everything with a determination to honour God; he gave his very best in everything he did. It is what we have all been called to do, to give our best and step into our greatness. God does want all his children to succeed in what they do but the motivation is what matters. David did things so God would receive the glory and that must be our motivation as well. We want to do our best because we want God to be glorified. Now, only God can truly glorify himself so he must add to everything we do to bring up to the place where he can be glorified, but our effort, our best effort plays a part in that.

Look at yourself. Would you say that your present attitude brings glory to God? Would you say that you have given it much thought? Step into your greatness. Become what you were born to be, what God created you to be, what his purpose is in you. Give your best and see what God does with it. And may God be glorified.