The Resurrected Life: Well Done
by Lisa Coleman
Don’t you love stories about ordinary people showing great kindness towards others? It is especially heartwarming when it is a pure deed without regard for reward or gain. I read about two deputies who found an elderly woman in a wheelchair in the middle of a road. The battery had died in her electric wheelchair. When they realized they couldn’t fit it inside their cruiser, they pushed her chair the mile long journey home.
Another example of extending ourselves for others is from 20-year-old Jordan Taylor. He was stocking bottles of orange juice at the market where he worked when he noticed Ryan Edwards watching intently. Jordan asked Ryan, who is autistic, if he would like to help. Providing Ryan the opportunity to help in the work, they stocked the bottles together. Eventually Ryan was offered a part-time job restocking shelves at the market, a job for which he’d already demonstrated his capability. Kindness and generosity rarely make headlines. At least not in our fallen world. But the little things do indeed matter. What motivates us and drives us is key. Or rather, Who.
Roger Thompson talked about the mystery of motivation in Leadership. He observed the mysterious internal combustion called motivation is sustained when you know you are important to a worthy cause.
Culture sells a blueprint for success. We see it all the time in advertisements for the newer, improved, important and sophisticated products that we simply must have. Television shows, movies and music are geared to lead us to our best lives. We need perspective! There is a story in which Gordon Johnson shares in, “Finding Significance in Obscurity,” Preaching Today.
A man came to a construction site, where stonemasons were working. The man said to one, “What are you doing?”
The stonemason said, “You can see, I’m chipping a stone.”
The man walked over to another mason and said, “What are you doing?”|
He answered, “I’m building a wall.”
The man walked over to a third mason and said, “What are you doing?”
This mason answered, “I am building a cathedral.” Ha! All three were doing the same thing, but what a difference perspective makes!
Pastor Rico Tice wrote about a funeral where an old lady told him that failure was being successful at the things that don’t matter. Success is hearing, ‘Well done’ from the only lips that matter.
As Christians, what do we deem as important? What matters? What lasts? What is ‘labor’ and how does it relate to our future home?
In a sermon on 1 Corinthians 15:58, Lee Eclov said:
You may think that “the work of the Lord” is what pastors and missionaries do. But that’s not it. When you pray, that is the Lord’s work. When you trust God for what you need or for an open door or for strength to do right—that is the Lord’s work. When you obey a command that God sets before you, when you give someone a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name, when you bear suffering for Jesus’ sake, when you talk to someone about Jesus, when you confess your sins, and when you give up something here so that you might store up treasure in heaven—that is doing the Lord’s work. When our energy or enthusiasm for the Lord’s work runs low, when we would rather just give it a rest, the Resurrection gives us reason to renew our efforts for Christ.
We are going to continue our look at Anticipating Resurrection this Sunday in our Heaven Series. What else gets resurrected besides our body and spirit? Come join the discussion!
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More information about this Bible study series can be found at HEAVEN: Peace for Today, Hope for Tomorrow. You can also follow this link to find materials for several additional Bible Studies that are free to download for your personal use.
May God bless you and your study, as you seek to know Him better through the study of His Word.
Yours in Christ,
Eric
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