July 16, 2023
I don’t know about you, but I had a pretty busy week last week what with work responsibilities, yard work, helping out around the house and appointments with several different doctors. As busy as last week was, I was just as busy the week before that and I will more than likely be just as busy next week. There is a word for all the busyness I find in my life, and that word is “normal”. How about you? I’ll bet your schedule is pretty full as well. Do you know what I have been pondering this week while shuffling from one responsibility to the next? I have been pondering the phrase found in Colossians 3:17, “And whatever you do in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to the Father”. Last week, my days were filled with words and deeds and if I am honest, I didn’t do too well fulfilling this command. Oh, I did lots of things last week and I said a lot of words while I was busy doing them, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t honor Jesus as I did all of them and the words I spoke quite often weren’t words of thanks. If you let yourself, your mind will be bombarded with all the negativity this world has to offer. All you have to do is watch and listen and take it all in. If you aren’t careful, all that negativity will find a home in your mind. It will settle in, take root and before you know it, your days will be filled with doubt, despair, and doom. I am the first to acknowledge the fact it is easy to think negatively, especially when we hear news that is negative. Whether it’s a dire diagnosis delivered by a doctor or a poor performance review given by a boss, bad news has a way of taking a seat in the backseat of our minds and if we aren’t diligent to remove it, that bad news will fasten its seatbelt and hang on for dear life. We try to be positive, but the “yeah buts” soon overtake our efforts. A truly positive person has learned to thrown negativity out the window as soon as it makes an appearance. This is why Paul tells us to “take EVERY thought captive” (2 Corinthians 10:5). It’s hard work and I certainly haven’t mastered it yet, but I am working on trying to boot negativity to the curb and to think positive thoughts. I want to be a worker for the Lord and I want to give thanks every day to God for allowing me to live one more day to work in His kingdom. Let’s try to focus less on how busy we are and more on doing our work to honor Jesus.
Be blessed and be a blessing . . . Bro. Andy
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