I was thinking about my life today, and I was captured by the thought that I really do some stupid things with my life sometimes.
It has taken me 73 years to figure out some of the very simple things in life. Sometimes I feel like banging my head against the wall.
Several years ago, I decided to clean out the gutters on my industrial park commercial building. There are 520 linear feet of gutters, 18 feet off the ground. It is a difficult job. I do most of the "hands-on maintenance" on my real estate, and really enjoy doing that.
I have owned this building since 1988, and usually clean the gutters once a year. My usual pattern was to get down on my hands and knees and scoop the messy stuff out, rotted leaves, twigs and other things that had blown on the roof. It was a hard job, and usually ended up cutting my hands on the sharp metal guttering, and a sore back from doing the job.
Well, after 12 years of doing this, today I took a powerful electric leaf blower up on the roof and completed the job in about an hour.
Why was I so stupid for those 12 years. I had the leaf blower in my garage all these years, but just never thought about using it for this job. I had used it on my home before, but somehow it never crossed my mind to hook up a long extension cord, and use it on the commercial building.
Now when I am doing a job, I like to think how it relates to my walk with the Lord. You know the Bible says, "Whatsoever we do, let us do it heartily for the Lord." So as I reflected on my leaf job, I thought about how stupid I am in other things pertaining to my walk with God.
One verse has been jumping out at me lately. Gal 3:3 states, "Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?"
When I have problems in my life, it seems like I try to solve them myself, rather than looking the to the"Author and Finisher of my faith".
The Bible talks of two kinds of works. Dead works and good works. I think that we can generate a lot of activity in our lives with those dead works. Doing those things in our lives without checking in with Our Father, to see if that is really what He wants us to do.
Good works on the other hand will last forever.
So how do I tell the difference between good works and dead works?
Hebrews 9:14 states, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"
My friend Art Block shared some of his insight with me on this topic. He referred to the verse, "My sheep hear my voice and follow me" in John 10.
Communication with the Father is very essential if we are to go about doing the "good works of God". If you will remember, Jesus made the statement, "I do what my Father tells me to do", and elsewhere in the Bible, the statement is made, "That your works will go before you" into heaven.
Does God recognize your voice? When you receive a phone call from a good friend or relative, you usually recognize their voice right away. If God is close to us, we will recognize his voice right away. But we have to make the "telephone call".
There is also the other side of the story, in Matthew 7:21, where some folks will approach the throne of God, and tell God about all the great things they had done in His name, and He will tell them, "Depart from me, I never knew you".
Wow! What a shock to our belief system! "But God, you don't understand. I did all these neat things for you." I imagine we will have quite an awakening when all our works are laid at the judgment seat of Christ.
First Corinthians Chapter Three is a great study on this. God's judgment fire will try our works, and the "wood, hay and stubble" will be consumed, and the "gold, silver, and precious stones" will last forever.
Another lesson I learned on the roof, with the leaf blower is that I was connected to a power source. Once during the job, the extension cord pulled loose from the connection, and the power stopped. I have to make sure I am connected to The Power Source of God.
I hope my friend that you and I can discern between dead works and good works. Let us strive to build works that will last for eternity. Connect up with the Father.
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