Recently I was looking back over a journal that I've kept since 2004. I found some thoughts and a quote that I wanted to share. Here's what I wrote on June 18, 2004:
I've begun reading through the gospels and today was in Mark 1. In the account of the healing of Peter's mother-in-law, it says that once she was healed, she "rose and ministered unto" Peter and his friends. I imagine she served them a meal. How often we suppose "Christian service" to be some grand and glorious work, when most often it is doing the everyday things as unto the Lord!
And here is the quote I included in that entry:
"A great many persons are always sighing for opportunities to minister to Christ, imagining some fine and splendid service which they would like to render. Meantime they let slip past their hands they very things in which Christ wants them to serve Him. True ministry to Christ is doing first of all and well one's daily duties." -- J.R. Miller, Come Ye Apart
Mrs T...this is so timely. I was having lunch with three good Christian Ladies and this was the topic of some of our conversation. How just cleaning house and ministering to our families is as unto the Lord. Too often we forget we must be faithful in small things.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that the neatest thing, Arlene? I love it when God encourages us like this! I have been doing a lot of thinking about God's purposes for my life. As I get older I find that I just don't want to miss anything that He wants for me to do. He encouraged me today ... and you and your friends as well. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful reminder for each day's work! And especially since that was my wedding day--as a wife (and now mother), my first priorities in service to the Lord are quite clear! Now to just remember that truth regularly as I clean and cook and change diapers and . . . :) I've been thinking about Eph. 6:5 "in singleness of heart, as unto Christ" a lot recently! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHi, Erika!
ReplyDeleteSo nice to see you here! I am glad you enjoyed these thoughts and found them encouraging. That quote and thought definitely encouraged me. And.. Happy Anniversary a few weeks early!
Appreciated so much your thoughts and those of J. R. Miller. I often fought with this when I was younger in the Lord. Why wasn't God doing "big" things in my life. How foolish I was. I realized soon that God is very interested in the small things. Becoming a Mom had lots to do with that.
ReplyDeleteThe slow and steady, the faithful in that which is least, those are the things that add up "little by little, inch by inch".
It's a wonderful thing to know that God is concerned with the small things in our life too. That he cares that the sparrow falls, or that the heart aches and about skinned knees and sick puppies. What a wonderful God we serve!
Thank you for sharing.
Mrs. D
Mrs. D --
ReplyDeleteSo sorry it has taken me so long to respond to your comment!!! I will often leave comments in my inbox until I have time to reply to them. Guess this one got lost in the shuffle!
Thanks so much for sharing your insights. This week I was reading through a devotional about women who met Jesus. One was Peter's mother-in-law. I noticed that in each of the Gospel accounts of this healing, some wording differed, but this incident of her arising and serving them was recorded in every one. Proof enough to me that this is important to God and He wants us to learn something from it!
Thanks for visiting my blog and being faithful to leave comments!
God bless,
Mrs.T