Grains of Sand

Google Images It’s important to know who you are working for. No, it isn’t for your employer. No, it isn’t for yourself. No, it isn’t for your pastor. No, it isn’t for your spouse or your family. Paul writes: “ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving ” (Colossians 3:23, 24). That’s a perspective changer, isn’t it? It changes the things you do. It changes where those things come on your list of priorities. It changes how you do things. It changes the attitude with which you do things. It changes how long you do things. The workplace, the home, the church, can be challenging places to work. But the “game-changer,” the perspective-changer is Who we are actually working for. When we work for Christ, we can follow wholeheartedly Paul’s instruction given earlier in Colossians 3, “ whatever you do, whether in word or ...

Google Images Paul had his issues with the Corinthian church. His second letter, unlike his first, shows us that many positive things had resulted from his rather sharp first letter to them. In the second letter there were still some “course corrections” to deal with but the message exudes a much softer side of the apostle. As he begins what we know as Chapter 4, Paul communicates that he is not discouraged in the ministry despite some of the deep valleys that his ministry may have taken him through. The mission has been given to him by God (4:1) and so he does not “ lose heart. ” The thread of this same idea is picked up at the end of the chapter when Paul says: “ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but wh...

Sometimes tunnel vision ruins my eyesight. I see only my little world and my insignificant "issues." These are times when I need to look beyond myself and broaden my outlook. I can't take a "God-view" of things because I'm not Him, but I can adjust my vision to look TO God, whose view of everything—even my little world—is so much clearer than mine.

Four hundred years have passed since Joseph ruled in Egypt. Since we tend to forget our history we also forget the lessons we should have learned from it. The records gathered dust in some corner of a local museum and the last survivors of the age had long since turned to dust. Another Pharaoh came to power who didn’t know the story of Joseph. The whole picture changed. Jacob’s descendants are now slaves in the land where they had once flourished. Their master has worked hard to keep them in submission, even to decreeing the death of all male children—something akin to cutting off your nose despite your face since it would be the males who would be required to continue to build the magnificent structure for which the Egyptians were famous. By the grace of God, one Hebrew boy has escaped the fate of many of his brothers. Moses has spent forty years in the wilderness of Midian, guarding sheep. He has married and settled down. It’s a far cry from a palace in Egypt but a whole lot ...

Reading: 2 Corinthians 1-4 When Paul writes his second letter to the Corinthians, the resurrection theme we saw in the first letter appears again. The apostle gently reminds his readers that someday they, like him, will be presented before God. Those who accept the message of reconciliation because of their labor of love will bring great glory to God on that day… “ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For the light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes no on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal ” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18, NIV). Paul has described some of what he has gone through as a messenger of the Gospel (4:8-11). He had been beaten, left for dead, shipwrecked, persecuted, imprisoned, misrepresented, hungry, cold, and frustrated by a physical limitation that held him ...

Job 8-10 In his despair, Job struggles with God. He bounces back and forth, feeling that God has pronounced him guilty yet protesting his innocence. There is an edge of injustice here: Job feeling God has been unjust and is being unfair. “ Even if I were innocent, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would pronounce me guilty. Although I am blameless …He destroys both the blameless and the wicked. When a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent. When a land falls into the hands of the wicked, he blindfolds its judges. If it is not he, then who is it? ” —Job 9:20-24. He is afraid of God, afraid to speak. He wishes for someone to speak for him (9:33-35). Job confesses to being bitter (10:1). He feels unfairly treated. Anger and bitterness often result in our saying things that were better left unsaid. For example: “ Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands, while you smile on the schemes of the wicked? ” (10:3). He believes...