Paul gave practical advice on how to perform our tasks that God gives us. This daily devotional looks at how obedience to God in all things and in all ways is rewarded.
Nuggets
- We do our best in completing our work because it is the work to which God has called us.
- We need to have the correct motive — obeying the Lord — for completing our assigned tasks.
Devotions in the Joy in the Gospel series
It seems like, in most of the letters that Paul wrote, somewhere at the end of the book is some practical advice. Paul talked to the Colossians about their relationships.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Relating as the Servant
“Slaves, obey your human masters in everything. Don’t work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but work wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord” (Col. 3: 22 CSB)
We do our best in completing our work because it is the work to which God has called us.
We’ve talked before about what the term slave meant in the first-century society. Sometimes, it was translated servant; sometimes, slave. That wasn’t a derogatory term in biblical times.
Servants/slaves usually voluntarily entered servanthood. The main reason was they wanted to find a way to live.
True, some were captured in war. However, most made a conscious decision to better their circumstances by working for someone else.
We’ve long said that conversion does not give us a license to sin. Apparently, some of the Colossians thought that conversion gave them a license to not work.
We are to follow God’s laws and commandments. God calls us to work. Davenport said we do that through humility, eagerness, and consistency.
Humility is a character trait that diminishes pride and places dependence on God while holding a modest view of our importance with respect to others. We have to put God first.
Glossary
We have to be eager in executing the tasks God gives us to do. He does give each of us tasks to expand His kingdom. We need to accomplish those tasks.
Glossary
We need to be consistent in performing our tasks. We can’t work only when our supervisor is watching us.
Why is this so bad? Davenport wrote, “He who serves his master to the eye seems to have two hearts; one dutiful, which excites to obedience in the master’s presence; the other undutiful, which impels to idleness in the master’s absence. But he who obeys with singleness of heart has one heart alone and ever the same, which moves to duty irrespective of his master’s presence or absence.”
Resource
We have to give it our all. God isn’t calling us to do half a job.
If we fear man, we will be subject to his whims. We know God will never change.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Being God’s servants does not have a negative connotation. We aren’t forced into serving God any more than people were forced into slavery in Paul’s time.
God isn’t a dictator. He gives us free will. Free will is the ability within us to make decisions, which determine actions that produce character.
The consistency applies two ways. We have to be consistent to follow Him in everything He has decreed. We also need to follow Him every time we are tempted to drop off the path.
Barlow hit that nail on the head. It is not easy to obey God in all ways at all times. That is, however, what we are called to do,
Resource
In the last devotion, we talked about how God is using these relationships to as a model for His Kingdom. We are servants of God. We are to obey God in all ways at all times.
Barlow reminded us that this diligent work for the Master is accomplished through fearing the Lord. We have to trust Him to equip us for whatever tasks He calls us to do.
Glossary
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Relating from the Heart
“Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people, knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You serve the Lord Christ” (Col. 3: 23-24 CSB)
We need to have the correct motive — obeying the Lord — for completing our assigned tasks.
We just have to watch our motive. Are we obeying because we want to gain something out of it? Or are we obeying because this is Sovereign God we are talking about?
We can’t quit working because no one is watching. We aren’t toiling for God in order to get attaboys from our friends and family — not even our church family.
In Paul’s day, the master provided food and clothing for the servants/slaves. Wouldn’t our Heavenly Father do that as a minimum?
Yes, God would. And yes, there are people who are starving and are homeless with few clothes — and those in tatters.
Many think that means God doesn’t provide the minimum.
Why do we keep judging God for things that are the results of our disobedience? God created a perfect world.
Sin — that entered into our world because of our choice — destroyed God’s perfect world. He allows us to feel the consequences of that.
Sins are actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
On the flip side, if we are diligent in doing God’s Will, we will be rewarded. We are working only for Him.
Does it seem funny that Paul calls it a reward of an inheritance? We think inheritance is an established fact — and given to children. A reward is something earned — like a wage the laborers earn.
Glossary
Davenport gave us the similarities.
- Wages are only earned by those who work; Heaven is only gained by those who are children of God.
- Wages are only paid for completed work; Heaven is gained only when this life ends.
Glossary
Davenport said that the similarities break down there. We don’t earn salvation. We gain salvation through the unmerited grace of God.
Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from condemnation and sin to acceptance and holiness and changes us from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Sins are actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart. Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
- Spiritual death is the spiritual separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin. The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
Grace is a free and unmerited gift of love from the Heavenly Father, given through His Son, Jesus Christ, that enables salvation and spiritual healing to believers by the work of the Holy Spirit.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
The size of our paycheck may be based on the knowledge and skills that we have to secure different jobs on the pay scale. It isn’t based on the size of our faith. It is based in God’s infinite love.
• Faith is a gift from God that enhances the conviction that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives and distinguishes us from others.
• God’s love is His all-encompassing favor that He has for us that is not dependent on our actions.
Many times, we think serving the Lord is the completion of the tasks we are given. I don’t think so.
Serving the Lord is being obedient in all that He says.
What you don’t see the difference? There is a big difference.
We can’t work our way into salvation. Neither can we work our way into Heaven.
Let’s say I wanted to be this big Christian singer. God wanted me to be a mom. I went off anyway and cut a few records. Maybe I even had some success.
I wouldn’t have been being obedient to God. Yes, I was doing God’s work.
I wasn’t doing the work that God had for me to be doing.
Serving God is all about being obedient to Him.
The service has to be genuine. We have to have the want-to at the heart level.
It can’t be because we want to get something out of it other than pleasing God and obeying Him.
Making the Connections
It all boils down to obedience. Are we doing it our way or God’s way? We need to focus on Him.
How Do We Apply This?
In order to be fruitful for the Lord, God can’t continually be getting on us for being disobedient.
- We have to have faith in God.
- We have to have faith in God’s principles.
- We have to have faith in God’s Doctrine.
- We need to believe in God’s truth.
Resource
Father God. Regardless of our position in this life, we look to You. You are Sovereign God and worthy of our praise and obedience. We look to You to call us to the tasks You have for us. Help us to follow Your Will. Amen.
What do you think?
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