Do your best

Life Changing Verse
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15

Your Life – What God would like to see

If you invited guests to come to your home, some of you would go all out to make sure everything was clean and neat. You could paraphrase the above verse in this way, “Do your best to prepare your home and family so that you can present yourself to your guests as one who has things in order, a family who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles a broom, mop, vacuum, and all other cleaning tools.” How can we, as Believers, use the same amount of energy (or more) in preparing ourselves for God as we do in preparing our home for guests? If you are going to do your best in cleaning a home, you must do some planning, some hard work, and some evaluating of your efforts. Let’s use these three tasks and the verse above to ask ourselves how we are preparing ourselves to be presented to God.

Planning to present yourself to God: I’m not confident that we, as Believers, think of our relationship with God in this way. Nowadays, as someone wants to pursue more of God, they do it when they “feel” like it. Can you imagine what your home would look like if you only worked on it when you “felt” like it? Planning means to think ahead of when you will spend time…alone with God, in reading and studying the Bible, in praying for your family and others, and in being alert to when the Holy Spirit leads you to serve others. Don’t get into the rut of “just letting it happen”. Be intentional about committing to God some of your time and all of your resources.

Doing hard work to not be ashamed: After you have a plan to spend time with God, then comes the hard work of executing the plan. Let me tell you upfront that the world and Satan will do everything possible to distract you so that you will forget all about your plan. Days or even weeks will go by and, one day, out of the blue, you will finally remember that you had planned to spend time with God. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), these thoughts come when our life takes a hit. Something happens that is not pleasing to us and, then, we remember. This is one reason why we should rejoice in suffering. God wants our attention and He can’t get it while you are off doing your own thing and have forgotten Him. Hard work means discipline and sacrifice. These are two words that strike fear and terror into everyone. True discipline is always “teaching for the future” as opposed to punishment being retribution for the past. Sacrifice is exactly that…giving up something that you have (time and possessions) for someone else. This will be hard at first, but gradually, our time with God will result in joy and contentment that far exceeds anything in this world. You will look forward to discipline and sacrifice because the fruit of the Spirit will be so overwhelming in your life as a Believer. Once you’ve experienced this, you will not want to go back.

Evaluating how you read and understand the Bible: One of the things I am amazed at is how much people think I know about the Bible when I know nothing. As long as I said certain phrases, I was considered a Bible scholar. I did not like myself too much when the Holy Spirit convicted me of my hypocrisy. The very grandest lesson that God taught me through this conviction was that the Holy Spirit is the only Teacher of TRUTH. I know nothing apart from the Holy Spirit. Let me say it another way, total reliance on the Holy Spirit is the only way to correctly read and study the Scriptures. Too many Believers approach the Bible from a “I want to know more about God” perspective. That sounds very religious and theologically correct. But, it has the “I” as the main point of reference. Instead, we should be saying, “Holy Spirit, reveal more of God to me.” With that perspective, your “spiritual discernment” will increase. You will see the things of this world grow strangely dim. You will see the absolute truth about life: live it for yourself and end up miserable and unhappy, or, live it for God and be content regardless of what’s going on in the world.

Do your “best”! I have not done my best. I’m sure many of you have not done your best. What does God think? He loves us unconditionally even though we don’t give Him our best. His love is not based on my performance. That still amazes me! As long as I remember His unconditional love for me, then I want to do my best for Him. His love (expressed through His grace, mercy, and forgiveness) for me causes me to change my life to be more like Him. This is what God would like to see in our lives.