“It” has started. For some, “it” started a week before the Thanksgiving holiday. For others “it” started on black Friday. And for the most of us, “it” will not end until a few days after the Christmas holiday. Whenever “it” started, it is unavoidable when it does. One of the undeniable facts about “it” is that everyone has to somehow try to fit it in and accomplish it among your regular responsibilities.
What I am referring to is all that is involved in the Holiday rush; those must do tasks that are on our “things to do list”. The “it” are all those extra things we have to do and like to do to make Holidays special and enjoyable for others and ourselves. The “it” involved shopping for that special food which made the thanksgiving holiday meal unique from the other meals you eat throughout the year. Now the “it” is the special baking and preparation of the delicious meals we all look forward to eating at Christmas. The “it” is something that is done only once a year, the time you spend and the care you give in decorating your house for Christmas.
We have all heard the Christian cliché, “Jesus is the reason for the season.” This cliché can also apply to Christians when the “it” begins to threaten and compete with the priority of keeping Jesus the reason of the season. “It” can also overshadow keeping our focus on Jesus. Some of us need to be careful and not let “it” become our motivation, priority or purpose of our day and lives during this very busy Christmas season.
Proverbs 16:3, tells us to, “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” There are a few things we can learn and apply to our relationship with Jesus during this demanding Christmas season.
First, are we committing to the Lord whatever “it” is we are going to do? To commit to something we need to be intentional to have a clear intent of purpose. How much are we involving the Lord in whatever “it” is that we will be doing during this Christmas holiday season?
Secondly, the writer does not specify what we are to “Commit to the Lord”. He does tell us “whatever you do”, this includes everything we do all day and all night long, wherever we are and whomever we are with. “whatever you do” involves not just what we would consider spiritual. Everything we do inside and outside the church building is spiritual whether we remember to commit “it” to the Lord or not. Living out our commitment of our relationship with Jesus is not only when we are at Church or around other Christians or when it is convenient. For some, intentionally living out their commitment of their relationship with Jesus can be challenging, threatening and uncomfortable. The “whatever you do” can be the friendly encounter we have with our neighbor or with someone in line next to us at the supermarket. However, when we are so focused on the “it” that we have to hurry up and do, we can easily forget to commit that particular moment or whatever I do to the Lord.
When we start out our day are we accustomed to asking the Lord in prayer that we would in every situation recognize His purpose and seek to fulfill His will as we interact with others in whatever “it” might be that we are doing? The blessing in doing this is what the apostle Paul tells us in a very familiar verse, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28. We should not be timid, fearful or ashamed of how things might turn out when we are acting or speaking in any situation “according to his (God’s) purpose”. But if we are so engrossed with accomplishing whatever “it” might be we will easily forget or not recognize God’s purpose in many situations throughout the day.
For some of us, like myself, we can be so focused on accomplishing the task that we are doing we can easily forget the second greatest commandment that Jesus taught us, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:39. Not loving our neighbor is how we consider others. It is so easy to consider ourselves more important than others especially when we have a lot to do and so little time to do “it”. We have all seen it or even experienced it in a parking lot, when someone takes a parking space that another thinks it is theirs. Or how about in the checkout line when someone is disputing a price on an item and wants a price check, do we have an attitude of something other than agape love for that person? Agape love is not a love that is only expressed to other Christians or experienced only when we are in church. Agape (love) means, “an undefeatable benevolence and unconquerable goodwill that always seeks the highest good of the other person, no matter what he does. It is a self–giving love that gives freely without asking anything in return, and it does not consider the worth of its object. Agape love draws on the resources of the Holy Spirit in order to love the way God loves people.”
The apostle Paul knew that throughout the day and in many different situations that we would experience, it can be easy for Christians to demonstrate “selfish ambition” and be inconsiderate to others especially when we have a lot to do, are tired and maybe even hungry. There is nothing wrong with ambition, but if it is only focused on ourselves and what we want it and not considering others, the Bible tells us it is wrong. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:3-4
When we are not just thinking of ourselves or our “own interests” and we are considering “the interests of others”, we will experience in our thinking agape love, which will result in expressing agape love even to someone that others might think is not deserving.
God fulfilling His “good purpose” in us is always secondary to the blessing we will receive. His primary purpose is what Paul tells the church in Thessalonica, note what he tells them in verse twelve. 11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. 12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12
As with the congregation in Thessalonica I trust that God “fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith” as you remember to “Commit to the Lord whatever you do”.
Pastor John
