Dear Friends,
Sometimes I look at the needs in this world and feel overwhelmed. I know God wants me to bless my neighbor and help where help is needed. But I can't do everything. I can't take in every person, child or adult, who needs a home. I can't feed every hungry person in San Diego. I can't spend time with every person who might be hurting. I can't give to every worthy cause. Do you ever think about these things? Before meeting Jesus, I felt so overwhelmed that I ended up doing nothing most of the time because I didn't know where to begin.
One thing Paul says in his letter to the church in Ephesus is extremely helpful in this regard. "We are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Eph. 2:10 NIV). One thing I notice here is that we have been created by God to do good. So, doing good is not optional. It's what we were made for. A second thing I notice is that God seems to have made doing good very simple for us. He has prepared the good things he has for us to do ahead of time. We don't have to make ourselves crazy trying to do all the good things we can think of. We just need to find out what good things God has assigned to each of us and do those. If we listen, the Spirit will to lead us to the good God has for us to do. And we can expect the good God has for us to be genuinely doable and well suited to us because he has already set us up to succeed.
Do you know what good things God has prepared for you to do? Are you doing nothing because you don't know where to start? Are you trying to do too much and feeling worn out? Or are you doing just what God has prepared for you? Is there time to rest?
A prayer for this week:
Holy Spirit, show me the good things the Father has prepared for me to do. Empower me to do them, and give me confidence that I can do them because I have been created in Jesus for the good works the Father has assigned to me. Help me to focus on what has been assigned to me, to do it joyfully and faithfully and also to stop when it is time to stop and to make time for rest and refreshing. Give peace to my soul. Amen.
Love in Christ,
Michelle
