05/05/2020
FOCUSING ON THE GOOD WORK GOD HAS PREPARED FOR US
By Christine Potts
We’ve all been to weddings. Everything focuses around the bride. My favorite moment is to watch the groom as he catches the first glimpse of his bride, he’s overcome by her beauty – she’s prepared herself specifically and especially for this day.
Now imagine, how does the bride of Christ prepare herself to be radiant for her beloved? Righteous deeds, good works…
“Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure"-- for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”
Rev 19:7-8, ESV
As I pondered this passage and how it applies to this season, I heard
“UN becoming”
Ladies, I sense that this season we are in is a cleansing period, a time of preparation. UN becoming who we’ve become; busy, weary, anxious, overburdened, chameleon – being who others want or expect us to be. Lost, depressed, frustrated, needy. Shedding the shackles of expectation, sitting in our pj’s long into the day, learning to be still and be quiet....
And working hard at doing the good deeds God has planned for these days!
I don’t know about you, but I think so often we become enamored by the calling on renown believer’s lives, wowed by the work they were given to do, that we dismiss what we have been created to do because it seems insignificant. Or maybe we feel insignificant, unworthy, locked in, incapable…
.. When we don’t see the value of the work, then we devalue the worker!
Because our intrinsic value is hard wired into us as vessels of the Living God, if we don’t value who God made us to be, we may seek our value elsewhere. We see it in Christian culture today, we waste so much time seeking our uniqueness and our purpose and our fulfillment, that we may miss the very work Jesus created us for…
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Eph 2:10
Ladies, the LORD God prepared good work to be done and then Jesus Christ created you specifically for your part. Jesus’ response to the Father’s purposeful design was to create you. You have all, ALL you need to do every good deed that you were created to do!
Recently, shoveling rock was an opportunity for me to apply this very lesson. I was dreading it even though it needed to be done, it’s hard work! But God has graciously given us more than we dared ask or imagine, so even this slavish labor could become an offering of praise. My perspective changed as I considered that this could be one of the good works I was created to do, to be a helpmeet to my husband. To show him I valued him and love him enough to work alongside him. My whole attitude about the work changed.
Scripture is replete with stories of people doing God’s will, simply by loving others well, serving others and using their gifts to bring God glory. Each day had its own work to be done.
I believe our Lord’s return draws close and He’s reminding us to use this time to prepare! I believe that this very season is ripe with opportunity. ...So, I leave you with this to ponder...
​What things may need to be UNdone in your life?
What good deeds are in front of you to do?
What goodness do you want to be clothed in when you meet your beloved Bridegroom, Jesus, face-to-face?
Heavenly Father, thank You for creating good work for us to do! Jesus, thank you for designing us perfectly for the specific work we were made to do. Holy Spirit, would You give us eyes to see the work, the energy to accomplish it each day. We let go of who we have become so that we may be all that you created us to be.
