Whatcha doin?

Whatcha doin?

Luke 10:38-42

Question: Have you ever been doing something you thought was important, but it actually wasn’t?

Growing up as I got older I was allowed to stay at home during the day while my parents were at work. During the day my mom gave me a list of things to do for the day around the house. Most of the time it was like sweep, vacuum, unload the dishwasher, mow, and so forth. The problem was that many times I waited until the last 30 minutes to do a lot of this work. I got good at doing some things really fast, but I wouldn’t do them in a great way. It was enough to say I completed the tasks, but never was I completing quality work. How many times are we doing everything else we want to do or what we think God wants and in reality we are missing the point?

Read Luke 10:38-42: “As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.””

There are three lessons we can take away from this passage.

1. Being Busy isn’t always Best

There’s a lot of ways to serve God and that even involves doing work. However, we are not called to work, but service. If your goal in the task you are completing is for your own benefit being disguised as for others than you are as guilty as if you were doing the task at all.

Colossians 3:23 states: “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.”

You may be thinking to yourself, wasn’t Martha working for the Lord and Mary was not? It wasn’t a matter of who was working and who was not, it was a matter of whose heart was right. Martha was doing what she thought she needed to be doing, which was consistent with the culture. However, the work was not more important than being in the presence of God. Please do not misunderstand me: work is important; working hard is important, but it can’t take precedence over serving God and being in his presence. There will be times that we need to work, but there is a time that we need to pursue the guidance and wisdom of the Lord. Please do not be busy for the sake of trying to gain praise, but work hard to honor the Lord.

2. Get into the Presence of Jesus

Jesus here is making a statement that work is not always important. It is good to work, but we cannot miss the opportunity to get into Jesus' presence.

Psalm 24:3-6 states: “Who may climb the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies. They will receive the Lord’s blessing and have a right relationship with God, their savior. Such people may seek you and worship in your presence, O God of Jacob.”

We are blessed when we actively go to find Jesus and get into his presence. There must be an assertive effort to pursue Jesus even in times we feel that other things are more important. Choose to attend church on a Wednesday night. Make plans to adjust job hours or household chores so you can still attend services. You may need to go as far as to find a way to attend a convention, worship service, or small group, even if it may not fit into your schedule perfectly. Always make time to pursue the presence of God in your life.

Hebrews 10:22-23: “22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.”

We must make note that it is important to pursue the presence of God with others. When we look to enter God’s presence with others we can find encouragement, unity, and companionship.

3. Be Jesus-centered not self-centered

In today’s culture, we are told to do what makes us happy and what gives us credit. The culture of Jesus is about service, selflessness, and compassion. Martha was working here to not truly please others but to give herself credit for the effort of planning a big party. While working is necessary, it is important to check our hearts. We must have a heart of pleasing the Lord rather than glorifying ourselves. Go back to the Colossians 3:23, do your work unto the Lord. We can glorify God in our work, our playing of an instrument, our play, or anything that we do. The important aspect of our lives in Christ is to ensure that we are working to build the Kingdom of God. 

Where is your heart? Are you even positioned to hear of the Lord’s love for you? If you are serving Jesus, are you positioned to get into his presence? Do not lose sight of knowing how important the presence of God is in your life. Please do not get so caught up in the work and performing other things that you fail to make meaningful time to pursue God’s presence and anointing.

Blessings,

Nick Engleman

If you have any questions about this devotional, me, or about pursuing a life in Jesus Christ, please feel free to reach to my email nengleman902@gmail.com, or by phone at 417-808-1049

Fear and Uncertainty

Fear and Uncertainty

2 Timothy 1:7; James 1:1-5; Psalm 91:5-11.

Times like what we are going through right now are never easy. We struggle and right now some may feel like Spongebob when he becomes a 5-star waiter but can’t remember his name. Or, you may feel like a hermit that isn’t sure whether that smell is coming from you or your dog. P.S. Don’t sniff your armpit right now, eek!

Fear

What does God say about how we should endure fear and uncertainty? Fear is natural and fear does keep us alive. But when does fear become concerning for us and start to hurt our faith? Can we be fearful and faithful? I would say yes, but where is our focus when fear starts to come in? 

2 Timothy 1:7: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”

I think we believe that this means we are not to be fearful, when in contrast this was Paul’s response to Timothy having a tendency to be timid and fearful when it came to life and sharing his faith. Paul is reminding Timothy, and us, in moments of fear to let God pour His Holy Spirit into our lives and trust Him. Fear should never keep us from acting but should force us to rely on the Holy Spirit to find peace, comfort, and direction.

Uncertainty

James 1:2-5: “2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. 5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.”

What do we do with the uncertainty? Uncertainty usually forces us to become hermits that do not act. Panic is a direct result of uncertainty because we cannot control what it is happening around us. Some people panic into being impulsive, say like, buying 14 packages of toilet paper or believing our opposition in politics is out to take my family, faith, dog, car, gender, or whatever else you want to claim.

In James, we see that he is encouraging us to embrace trials because our faith is built and strengthened in these moments. Next, James tells us when we are uncertain of life that we should ask God for wisdom and direction. When you are not sure of what to do next, turn to God and trust Him to provide insight and direction in your next step. 

You want to know the hardest part of each of these steps? Patience. All of it requires patience to understand that God is acting in His timing and with our best interest in mind. Remember Romans 8:28, all things are working together for the good of those who love God.

Life is hard right now and there is a lot of uncertainty. Politics are chaos, the world is in chaos, your neighborhood is in chaos. But, remember that God is not in chaos, He is in order. So, take some time to breath, relax, and trust in God. Also if you get time please read Psalm 91 for a little more peace and internal security.

Blessings,

Nick Engleman

If you have questions about Jesus, or are interested in beginning this journey of living for God through the blood of Christ, please feel free to contact me at 417-808-1049, or email at nengleman902@gmail.com.

Freedom of Choice

 Freedom of Choice

Galatians 5:1-6

Question: How many of you like rules? Or another way, who would call themselves a rule follower?

The Founding Fathers desired a government that was governed by natural law and natural rights. Who can name the three natural rights listed by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence? (Life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness) The idea was that in a perfect society man could govern oneself by abiding by these three principles. However, men in their inherent flaws need law or rules to govern them.

In all truth, the Founding Fathers were inspired by their Creator to create this style of government. If man was truly in tune with their Creator then they would be bound by the Creator’s law of:

1. Preserve life-The preservation of life is established by those who value the lives of themselves and others. The greatest thing in all of creation is humanity. The word of God in Genesis states that we are created in His image. The value of humanity in itself is the value of God.
2. Life has the liberty of man to choose- God created in us the ability to choose. We are not robots who are programed to only follow commands. We have the right to choose to value life, value each other, and value God.
3. Man can choose to pursue anything they want as long as rules 1 and 2 are followed. In essence, the totality of natural law is the ability for man to choose to protect life, for themselves and others. Furthermore, it is about valuing the right of individuals to choose for different beliefs and ideas as long as it values others.

Seems good, right? Well, that is God’s law. In your head quote the Ten Commandments, and go! If you can’t get them all go to Exodus 20.

Okay, so now let’s look at this greater theme of the Commandments: Love God, Love Others. Doesn’t that follow the idea of the Old Testament and the Founding Fathers? If you have doubt, it really does focus on the preservation of God’s laws and God’s nature.

But sin…Sin doesn’t follow these rules or concepts. Sin is selfish, angry, prideful, resentful, petty, foolish, and the list goes on! (Galatians 5:19-20) Sin keeps us bound because it is sin that leads to destruction.

If you have a Bible, get it and read Galatians 5:1-6

Contrary to popular beliefs and naysayers alike, Christianity is not about following rules. God set forth laws in the old way of doing things and Israel was terrible at following it. You can’t please God by being just a rule follower. At some point, a person must be willing to submit to living in the freedom of Christ.

What we see is the battleground that many men are willing to fight on is that man is in essence their own god. We are not able to abide by God’s standards on our own accord. We can’t regulate ourselves. Though we have free will, the free will will always lead to a choice that is counter to the will of God.

So what is the answer?

Faith…Our faith in Jesus is what allows us to have freedom. It is because of Christ that we have the freedom to abide in God. As we place our faith in Jesus, it is now that we have made a choice to live in the righteousness of God, not ourselves. It is in this faith that we have established the trust that God will provide for us in this life. Furthermore, it is in this faith that we recognize that our only hope is to live in the righteousness that has been established by Jesus Christ. Hebrews writes that our faith is the hope of what we cannot see in this life

All in all, we have freedom due to our faith in Christ and a willingness to recognize the sovereignty that God has in our lives. Through the Holy Spirit, we can now find peace and hope that Jesus Christ is our redemption, salvation, and hope.

Blessings,

Nick Engleman

If you have questions about Jesus, or are interested in beginning this journey of living for God through the blood of Christ, please feel free to contact me at 417-808-1049, or email at nengleman902@gmail.com.