Whatever?

Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for you serve the Lord Christ.
(Col 3:23)

As I look around my office, I see that I have not applied this word of God to how it is kept. I make notes and get journals that I hope to review soon and so I let them occupy a space on my desk. Gradually, that note or journal becomes two or three or ten. In addition, I have books on my shelves that I have not looked at in ten years and that contain obsolete information.

Outside, my tool shed had become very disorderly partly because it was being used by multiple people in our family and I had not established a method or a priority to keep it organized. The result was that it caused me to lose valuable time looking for things, spend more money to replace tools I couldn’t find, and damage things that needed more care. Recently, one of my sons came out and helped me organize it. Since then, I have already noticed several situations where that orderliness saved me much time. I have probably already made up for the time spent in organizing by being more efficient.

By nature, orderliness seems to very important to some people and of minor importance to others. Also by nature, even if we are good at orderliness, we all tend toward taking the easy way out in some areas of our life. But, this verse challenges us to cry out for God’s help to make our lives a genuine reflection of our relationship with Jesus Christ, “our Lord”. How much He is our Lord in everything we do is revealed in how heartily we serve Him in the “little” things. The little things are the areas where we personally but a low value or priority. That little thing may not be so little in God’s eyes. It is easy to blame others. “My tool is lost because my children didn’t take care of it.” But, any parent can see the problem with that blame, since we know who is responsible for training the children. And, much of that training comes through example.

So, let’s take personal responsibility for the “messy” parts of our lives whether it is in the office organization, in our personal relationships or in a part of our daily duties that we don’t like. May we heartily serve the Lord Jesus Christ in these “little” areas just as much as in those where we like to work. Lord, guide me and empower me as I tackle organizing this office and may He empower you for that whatever project that is popping into your thoughts.