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What Am I Doing Here?: Small Beginnings

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Having been made in the image of God, our hearts have been set by Him on eternity. Rooted in each heart is a God-given desire to impact the world around us. But in the midst of endless distractions, countless opportunities to live out our purpose can go unnoticed each and every day. Stick around this week as we look at how we live our day-to-day lives in a way that points others to the cross.

 

Small Beginnings

“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plum line in Zerubbabel’s hand.” 

Zechariah 4:10, NLT

mondayYou need not look very far to see seemingly ordinary people doing remarkable things in the name of Jesus. Evangelists are bringing the gospel to thousands. Wells are being dug, bringing the lifeline of clean water to impoverished communities in desperate need. Rescued from the horrors of sex slavery, women are supporting themselves through meaningful employment, and orphans around the world are being adopted into loving families. I get goosebumps just thinking about the kingdom work that is being done all around the world!

Within each of our hearts is a God-given desire to make a difference in the world around us. All too often, the great needs compared with our limited abilities can seem intimidating so we settle on doing nothing.

After the destruction of Solomon’s temple by the Babylonians, Zerubbabel was the man charged to rebuild it. It was no small task. Remembering the splendor of Solomon’s temple, many of the older Jews were disappointed with the new temple. Compared to Solomon’s temple, it was smaller and lacking the “wow” factor they felt it needed. Talk about sucking the wind right out of someone’s sails!

What if Zerubbabel had given in to the discouragement of the unfair comparison, believing his temple wasn’t big enough or grand enough? What if he had chosen to do nothing?

Unfortunately, I’ve been guilty of the comparison trap and felt that what I had to offer was just too small. I’ve given in to discouragement. Maybe you have, too.

The Lord told Zechariah, “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin” (Zechariah 4:10). Bigger isn’t always better: He values our small efforts and actually rejoices in them! Small yeses, small sacrifices, and small steps of faith are the beginning. Just as Jesus took a little boy’s lunch, blessed it, multiplied it, and fed thousands, He will do the same for us. We need only lay our small offering of our time, our money, our gifts, and our lives at His feet.

Savoring the small,

Traci

The Greatest Mystery Ever: What the Cross Tells Us About the Future

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I love a good mystery. My favorite mystery writer is Mary Higgins Clark, and I’ve managed to collect all but a few of her entire works. But the greatest mystery ever told is why God chose to redeem mankind through Christ’s death on the cross. This week we’ll explore the mystery of the cross—foolishness to the unsaved but the power of God to those who claim Him as Lord and Savior (I Cor. 1:18).

 

What the Cross Tells Us About the Future

If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. 

1 Corinthians 15:19

IMG_3400We began the week thinking about the mystery of the cross. If you can explain how the death of one man on one day in history paid the penalty for sin for all mankind for all time, then perhaps you are the world’s greatest sleuth. My compliments!

I’m guessing, however, you’re as mystified as the rest of us. And speaking of trusting God, it is, after all, by faith that we are saved (Rom. 3:28). And even our faith is a gift of God!

We also began the week by asserting that your decision about the cross is the most important one you’ll ever make. Just as Christ promised that He was going to prepare a place for us in His eternal home, He also promised that unbelievers are cursed and will be sent “into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41). This is the bad news that precedes the good news.

If you haven’t made the decision to accept Christ’s saving grace as payment for your sin, check out the ZMI Family Ministries Website and read “How to Have Peace with God.” zmiinternational.org

If you have made this decision, I hope to meet you in heaven. I know it’ll be crowded, full of people from every nation and tribe, no matter how long the earth remains. But I’ll find you. Your place has been reserved for you (Jn. 14:1-3). The Book of Revelation describes heaven as a place of no death, mourning, crying, or pain. Everything will be made new (Rev. 21:4-5). What a future awaits us!

If you want to know more about what will happen when Christ returns for us, read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:3. After these verses Paul went on to warn us not to be unprepared for that day. “Let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet …Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing” (1 Thess. 5:8-11).

I hope you’ve found this week’s Doses encouraging. If so, share them on your Facebook page or with a friend who might need a little assurance right now. Until I see you in heaven,

Preparing for the great day of the Lord,

Betty

The Greatest Mystery Ever: What the Cross Tells Us about Us

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I love a good mystery. My favorite mystery writer is Mary Higgins Clark, and I’ve managed to collect all but a few of her entire works. But the greatest mystery ever told is why God chose to redeem mankind through Christ’s death on the cross. This week we’ll explore the mystery of the cross—foolishness to the unsaved but the power of God to those who claim Him as Lord and Savior (I Cor. 1:18).

 

What the Cross Tells Us about Us

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 

Ephesians 5:1-2

IMG_3402When we think of the cross, we can easily get mired in the view of ourselves as sinners, unworthy of God’s love or Christ’s sacrifice. After all, Christ died to save us from our sins. The New Testament is pretty graphic in its portrayal of us before we became Christians: impure, idolaters, jealous, selfish, angry, liars, and so on.

Paul says any of us might give our lives for a good person, but no one would willingly sacrifice himself for an enemy. But Christ died for us while we were sinners! (See Romans 5:6-8.) But that’s not the last word on the subject. Good news! God must think of us as VERY worthy to have gone to so much trouble to save us. In fact, He must think we are the pinnacles of His created order—the cat’s p.j.’s you might say!

If the cross proves our value to God, our response must be one of thankfulness. In a familiar story from Christ’s life, a woman with a bad reputation bathes Jesus’ feet with perfume. When the other banquet guests scorn her actions, Jesus replies, “Well, guys, those who have been forgiven little, love little. She must love me a lot!” (See Luke 7:36-50 for the full account.)

Do you love much? Our gratitude quotient says a lot about whether we feel a need to praise and honor Jesus for His sacrificial death and saving grace. If you’re glad you will spend eternity in heaven instead of hell, perhaps a little kingdom service might be in your future, as well. In fact, we are saved in order to do good. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10).

Salvation is past (when you accepted Christ), present (as you continue in Him), and future (when we all get to heaven, hallelujah!). Meanwhile, we are to shine like stars in the universe (Phil. 2:15) as we point others to the light of life (Matt. 5:14).

Are you shining? If not, try an attitude of gratitude. Focus on God’s love, Christ’s offering of His body and blood, the significance of the cross, and your future in glory. That ought to cast a blinding light on the next person who comes your way.

Living in the light,

Betty