One of the greatest pieces of advice that I would share with my own daughters and granddaughters would be to jump in, support and serve in your church. It is important that you attend a church that God has truly led you to and where you are able to serve him in the good and the bad, the ups and the downs. Jump in, commit, hunker down and serve him wherever and however you can serve. It is important to have your children there and busy with the activities of the Lord and church as well. Make this a priority. Matthew 6:33 KJV, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
Through my life, it has become even more evident that what God tells us in his word is so very true. For example, Proverbs 31:27 tells us: “she looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.” Webster 1828 describes idleness as reluctance to exertion either of body or mind or reluctance to be employed, aversion to labor, trivialness, unimportance, ineffective, and useless. In other words, lazy. We are always serving something or someone. It may be just serving ourselves. There is much work to be done for the Lord. You will not go wrong to seek the will of the Lord where he wants you to serve him but it must start in our own hearts, homes and our churches. As we are faithful over these things we can build even further where we serve him. Matthew 25:21 is a great reverence to see an example of this concept.
It is important to serve and build a structure and commitment to serve the Lord in our churches above all other things in our life. This takes a commitment on our part and will become a way of life, not just a “God thing” like I have often heard. I heard a wise person say, “although it is a God thing it is more than that…..it is a way of life.”
Serving the Lord and the church early in your life sets a pattern for the rest of your life. It is wise to make this a priority early in your life and commit above other things that will compete. Although every stage of life has stress and strife, as you grow older there are so many more things that compete for you mental, physical, emotional time and attention that makes it a challenge to juggle all of the responsibilities that the Lord blesses you with although he will always provide and come through.
I firmly believe you should love God first and most and serve him, love your spouse, children and family serve them, love your church, your pastor and pastor’s wife and serve them, love your church family and serve them, love where you work and serve them. The Bible supports these principles in Ephesians chapters 4-6 and many other reference areas. Do all this fervently and with all of your heart (Colossians 3:23-24). If you are not able to lay the foundation starting with the ”priority” then drop the rest until you can get the foundation right and then build again. Read Matthew 7:24-27 for a great illustration and instruction on building your house on the rock.
We look out at the world right now and can see chaos, confusion and so much more ungodliness. We know from the Bible that God is not the author of the confusion. I used to tell my girls, (and I still do) “the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.” Mommas and daddies used to raise their children and families in God fearing churches. Pastors used to be “called” and were bold and had a wife that stood and supported them. We are so very blessed to have this at our church and we should pray God continue to give our pastor and pastor’s wife the boldness, grace and mercy to continue standing in the gap for each of our homes, families and the unsaved souls.
My burden for us this morning, who are we serving? Why are you serving them or that? I promise you, if you prioritize what you serve and remember Matthew 6:33 and practice and purpose to serve God in your local church and your home first, you and your home will be blessed even more than what God has already blessed you with. Two more wonderful scriptures from his word that I will leave you with to study and ponder on are Ephesians 3:20-21 and Joshua 24:15. God is able to do so much more and who will you choose to serve today. I love you and we are in this together. Let’s just praise the Lord for all he has done and all he is going to do in our homes and our churches that has the potential to spread on over to our workplaces and the rest of the world if we choose wisdom and prioritize correctly that pleases God.
I was helped and encouraged so much in church yesterday from my Sunday school teacher with so many phrases and quotes from his study but one I will share to purpose to practice is to pray more for others rather than complain. Brother John Jarvis also challenged me when he asked, “What is your part in teaching others to be faithful? My Pastor, Tommy Turner helped me in a message from Leviticus about “Strange Fire”. I want to “simply go by the Book”! Lord help me to stay focused on you and your word and not get side tracked with any strange fires.
Wisdom:Better Than Rubies 