Work From The Heart
I am amazed at how one football game is now prompting a third blog post from me. The game was the amazing 38-3 win of the New Orleans Saints over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday night. Posts are already out there from me entitled Spreading The Wealth and Catch Me and Prop Me Up inspired by this game. This post is inspired by Terron Armstead, who was really the inspiration for the latter mentioned post as well, and his posting of Colossians 3:23 on his twitter landing. When someone posts a Bible verse, if I don’t remember it, I always look it up and reflect on it. Here is the verse from The Message Bible:
“Work from the heart for your real Master, for God,” ~ Paul to the Colossians
Colossians 3:23 The Message Bible
So this immediately meant working from passion and purpose. I also went ahead and read the whole chapter (3), and verse 17 (Colossians 3:17 The Message Bible) jumped out. Here it is:
“Let every detail in your lives – words, actions, whatever – be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.” ~ Paul to the Collosians
Colossians 3:17 The Message Bible
Does this speak to character, or what? This is all about walking the talk! Our conduct should extend to all aspects of our life, not just a small set of rules. Then for me I need to put verses 22-25 all together. Here is how it reads in The Message Bible:
“22Servants, do what you’re told by your earthly masters. And don’t just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. 23 Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, 24 confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you’re serving is Christ. 25 The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t cover up bad work.” ~ Paul to the Colossians
Colossians 3:22-25 The Message Bible
In other words we are to work heartily, giving it our best every day. I believe this why Terron picked this as the Bible verse to put on his landing page. In his case he must give of his all whether it be working out, studying film, practicing in order for him to be able to show up as a positive role model on one of the world’s largest stages NFL game day. This is all about enthusiasm and passion. We may not be on as big a stage as Terron, but we do have influence on others. Demonstrating a good work ethic and attitude makes a tremendous difference on our personal life and on the influence we have on others. Thanks Terron Armstead for posting Colossians 3:23 on your Twitter landing so we could be inspired in the influence we have on others.
Out Of All People
While doing some heavy tweeting during the World Series, I came across Bible verses on Major League Baseball Players’ Twitter landings. I would then quiz myself to see if I remembered the verse and look it up when I didn’t. I did a lot of looking up. When I was tweeting out to Brett Phillips after that great Tampa Bay Rays win in Game4, I noticed he had Isaiah 41:10 listed. This Bible verse shows up a lot for athletes. It goes, “Don’t panic. I’m with you. There’s no need to fear for I’m your God. I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you. I’ll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you” (Isaiah 41:10 | MSG).
Basically, God is telling the children of Israel, of which we are a part, that he has our backs. If God talked like me, the verse would sound like this: “Chill, I’ve got your back,” or “Dude, you’ve got this.” Then, a couple of days ago I noticed on a great Twitter connection of mine, Alain Dizon, that verse 9 was added to the Twitter landing with Isaiah 41:10. So, I looked up verse 9, which says, “I pulled you in from all over the world, called you in from every dark corner of the earth, Telling you, ‘You’re my servant, serving on my side. I’ve picked you. I haven’t dropped you’” (Isaiah 41:9 | MSG). This verse is profound – we are all picked; we’re certainly not going to get dropped from the picture. This verse might be a bigger deal than verse 10.
In other words, out of all people, God has a calling for each of us – a mission – a reason to live and something to accomplish. He has chosen you and me, and not cast us away. Each of us has an individual purpose in life and God will help us accomplish it. We should never be afraid it’s too late to accomplish our purpose, of physical challenges, or any other obstacles. God won’t leave us hanging. We have no reason to be afraid that we can’t live up to expectations and live with purpose. Whatever the challenge, God will offer his help, and his hand. Verse 10 then ties the whole thing together and brings to mind the strong image of God as our good, best, and perfect friend. He will take our hand to help us through the challenges that we face.
So, what’s your individual purpose in life? Out of all people, it is up to you to carry out that life’s mission and purpose. We all need you!
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