Friday, December 4, 2009
Be Faithful
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
—Jeremiah 29:11
When it is all said and done, what God wants from us is not success as much as faithfulness. Results and fruit are His work. Faithfulness and obedience are ours.
God had a future for the apostle Paul, even when he had been arrested and thrown into prison in Jerusalem. Jesus reminded Paul that He knew what he was doing in Jerusalem and approved it. It had been controversial for Paul to go to Jerusalem to begin with. Agabus had warned him that he would be imprisoned, and sure enough, he was. One could even look at Paul's circumstances and conclude that Paul blew it, that Paul was outside of the will of God and never should have gone.
But our job, if you will, is to obey the leading of the Holy Spirit. And you can always anticipate opposition when you do that. We gauge success as bigger and better. But time has a way of sorting things out. And what may be deemed as a success today may, in the future, be viewed as a failure. What may be looked upon today as a failure may be regarded as a success in the days to come.
As God is at work in our lives, we may see only a brushstroke here or a dash of color there and say, "Wait. What is this? I don't know if I agree." We need to step back and give God room. There will be an expected end. There will be a completion. And ultimately, it will be good. God had a future for Paul, and God has a future for you.
And in that final day, Jesus is not going to say, "Well done, good and successful servant." He will say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." So be faithful.
Copyright © 2009 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org
and
to listen to Greg Laurie's daily broadcast on OnePlace.com, click here.
SPECIAL OFFER
Hope for Hurting Hearts
In times of tragedies and trials, certain things become evident:
- This life will have its sorrows
- God loves us
- Jesus weeps in our times of pain
- God can be glorified through human suffering
Hope for Hurting Hearts, Pastor Greg Laurie's new book, examines these truths, revealing God's love and care for us, and shows how we can find hope, even in the midst of the most unbearable pain and sorrow.
You can have your own copy of Hope for Hurting Hearts by Greg Laurie in appreciation for your gift to Harvest Ministries this month.