Tuesday April 13, 2021

Today’s Reading: Colossians 3:18-4:2

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters…

Colossians 3:23

Reflection: Living in the Family of God is shaped by living under the Sovereignty of God. It entails doing what He sees is fit for His Church. As a people who uphold God as our Lord, we submit our lives to Him by submitting ourselves to the benefit of His people. This means that wives are to submit to their husbands and husbands are to live sacrificially for their wives. Children are to live in obedience to their parents and parent are to encourage their children in God’s Truth. In God’s Family, both slaves and slave masters are to live under the Master of Heaven and earth, and glorify Him in all that they do.

This way of living is contrary to the way the world teaches us to live. In the world, we are taught that it is important to claim what is rightfully ours, to act in ways that benefit and protect ourselves before others, and to care for ourselves first and foremost because no one else will. But God teaches us that because He cares for us perfectly and provides for us beyond measure, we are to live in ways that He has mandated, the ways which benefit the rest of His Family. This is a lifestyle of submission to Christ above all, a lifestyle of prioritizing His instruction and depending completely on how He works in the world. It is when we remember how well we are cared for and kept by our Lord that we are freed from the concern of our own well-being and can focus on how to live for Him.

Prayer: Loving Lord, You take such good care of me. You feed me and clothe me. You cover me with Your protection each day. You guide me in Your everlasting ways. You have granted me undeserved Salvation through Your Son Jesus Christ. I want for nothing in Your Care, God. I rest in perfect Peace in the nearness of Your Presence. Thank You for all that You do for me. Thank You for being an amazingly compassionate God. I pray, Lord, that thanksgiving at the forefront of my mind and heart would propel me to live in service to You and to Your Church. Help me to focus on caring for others in the ways You see fit. Teach me to be forgiving, generous, compassionate, and selfless for Your Namesake. Help me to please You in all I do. I pray these things in Jesus’ Name, AMEN.

Thru the Bible in a year (credit: Biblestudytools.com): Colossians 3:18-4:18; Ezekiel 31-32; Isaiah 56