Not Working Toward Heaven

 Here is this week's Bible Verse.

VERSE:                   Ephesians 2:8-9

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

REFLECTION:

This week I'm going to piggyback off of last week's verse in Romans. If you didn't read last week's blog, please do so to refresh your memory. 

There are many people and even Christian denominations that teach people that to be saved, you must do works. Basically, you must be doing things that will earn your way to Heaven. These verses today tell us this is simply not true. We are saved through faith in Jesus Christ and not by anything we can do. This is a difficult concept for many of us to understand because our world/society is built on the premise of working your way to the top. We find ourselves doing this in almost everything we do, and we usually don't just do it quietly; we boast about it, we let others know how great we are.

Take sporting events, for instance. When someone scores a touchdown, hits a home run, or scores a goal, they celebrate; they crave the applause from the fans. They want everyone to know how great they are at that sport. However that is their job, that is what they are getting paid to do.

This world doesn't work the same way as God's world. We may be in this world but we are not of this world. Things always work differently when we are talking about things of God. The only thing we can do that will get us to heaven is to have faith in Jesus Christ and believe that he died on the cross for your sins and completed it by be risen from the dead. When or if you have done this then tell others but don't boast about it but instead glorify and honor God for the work He is doing in your life. 

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven you are worthy of our praise. Thank you for your grace and the free gift of Jesus Christ. Help me Lord to be less prideful and recognize that you are the author and finisher of my life and there is nothing I can do to earn my way to heaven. Amen.

Hope you enjoyed today's verse. 

Working for Wind

VERSE:                                                            Ecclesiastes 2:17

Therefore, I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

REFLECTION:                                        

Do you ever find yourself wondering if the job you do is worth anything? Many of us spend 40 hours a week doing a job for someone else that has no significance in the world. We sit there clicking away on the computer or writing on paper all to earn money. But to what end is the job? Our true work should be to serve God and glorify His name in all that we do.

It is important to have a job and earn money. It is the only way we will survive but that shouldn’t be all that we do in life. It shouldn’t be just to earn money. We all have a higher calling whether our job is in the ministry or not we all have a purpose to further the Kingdom of God.

If all we do is chase after the all mighty dollar and look for jobs that will satisfy only us it will be like chasing the wind. You can chase it into eternity and never ever catch it. It becomes frustrating because we can see it and if we reach for it we can almost touch it but it is always slightly out of our grasp. So we work harder and longer and try to make more money thinking we will get closer. We never do get closer but instead we get further from God.

Regardless of what you do for a living find a way to glorify and honor God in your job. Also look for the ministry with your job. Maybe you make friends with someone and are able to tell them about Jesus. Maybe someone needs your prayers or your help in a time of need. Look for those opportunities in your job and glorify and honor God with the job you do.

PRAYER:

Thank God for the gift of the job that you have. It doesn’t have to be stressful, pray for a relief in the stress and pray for opportunities to lead others to Jesus. Ask God for a servant heart so you may work and serve God joyfully.