Guest post by Carey Keiger
Years ago, my wife sent me a text message that simply stated: “What have you done for God today?”
I had to think about that for a second…Wow! Had there been anything I had truly done FOR GOD, and for God alone that day? I had a quiet time that morning, but it seemed pretty rushed, and I’m not sure I went into that quiet time thinking, “this is for God today.” I definitely didn’t consider driving to work in morning traffic, something that I could do for God. How about my daily routines at work? Had any part of my lunch break been used for God? There did not seem to be any part of my day that I had done FOR GOD. That really convicted me…not to mention, blew me away.
Colossians 3:23 tells us, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.”
I found that there was very little that I did on a daily basis that was for God. Everything was done for selfish reasons, or out of obligation, or just out of routine.
But what if everything we did, we did it as if we were doing it for the Lord? What would that look like? What would that look like in our daily lives? Or now that I am working in Church Recreation, I wonder what that would look like in our ministry? What would that look like on our ball fields, basketball courts, golf courses, etc?
Too often we have our own agendas, our own desires, our own responsibilities…and sometimes we are just going through the motions. But if we truly did our work for the Lord, what type of difference do you think that would make? It’s not easy – partly because nothing in or of this world will support you in doing anything for God. It takes an intentional effort to keep our ministry from becoming routine or just careless acts. As the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians, “Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air.” In the same way, we should not run our ministry without goals or purpose…and that purpose must be in line with the will of God.
We should do nothing apart from Him. Jesus said:
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
Why do we try to leave Christ out of certain areas of our life? Why would we want to be apart from Christ, even when it’s just on a ball field for an hour? Aren’t we even curious about what we can do with Christ? How much fruit can we truly bear, when we are in Christ? Our ministry, our churches and our homes desperately need to be for Christ, and need to remain in Christ.
So what have you done for God today?