Unaware

“…he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion…” (Philippians 1:6, NIV 1984).


On early morning hospital rounds, I was a bit surprised when a nursing aide I had never met looked up at me in the elevator and asked me how I was doing. I said I was fine. When she stepped off the elevator, she said, “May God’s power be with you today.” Later the same morning after I had examined an older gentleman, he asked me, while still on the exam table, “May I pray for you today?” He took my hand and held me up to the Lord.

As far as I can tell otherwise, that day turned out no different than hundreds of others.

Do you ever wonder what God is doing with you each day? Most days are so much like every other that we lose sight of our part in His plan. We look at our lives and hope that someday He will use us in a mighty way, and then imagine missions and sacrifice that may never come.

The truth is that God is constantly using His faithful in ways that leave us unaware.

When we love Him and abide in Him, people are touched and words are said that heal, transform and even move mountains---actions of God that we will only discover on the other side. There are days like the one above where mighty battles are being waged on a spiritual plain for which extra prayer and power are needed, even though the day seems ordinary.

Someday we will see it all, but not now. If our eyes were opened now to all that God is doing with us, we could not stand the glory of His presence and the awesome expanse of His work. And we would be tempted to point to our own contribution rather than to His Majesty.

Our task is to focus on the Master and obey---His task is to get the work done, whether we can see it or not.

As Oswald Chambers put it:
“The true character of the loveliness that tells for the Christian is always unconscious….Jesus says, ‘He that believeth on Me, out of him shall flow rivers of living water.’ If we begin to examine the outflow, we lose touch with the Source. We have to pay attention to the Source and God will look after the outflow.”

My question for the Lord each day should not be, “What did you accomplish with me today?” Instead, it should be, “Did I love you today?”; “Did I love others today?”; “Did I trust you today?”; and “Did I obey?” When we reach the other side, we will be pleased with His answer to the first question if His answer to the second four was, ”Well done.”

Dear Father,
Help me to love and obey---and trust you with the outcomes of my life.
Amen