What are you doing with your "time"?

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galations 6:9

My dad has dealt with health issues resulting from colon cancer since being diagnosed with it in 1984.  The doctors followed up his surgery with too much radiation, which caused a series of problems for many years to come.  In 2007, he had close to 10 surgeries and spent 6 months straight in hospitals and rehab centers due to complications from his weak, damaged intestines.  Last year he found out the cancer had returned and he had to have yet another surgery and chemo treatments.  My mother doesn’t like to drive on the highways any longer, which meant that I needed to drive her back and forth to Atlanta to care for my dad in the hospital.  After a few weeks of serving them in addition to all my other responsibilities of being a wife and mom, I started to feel very tired.  After a few months, I was exhausted. It was extremely hard to keep up that pace, but it was also extremely necessary.  Why?  Why did I do that day after day after day?   First, because I love God and He calls us to serve Him by serving others.  Second, because my parents are dear to me and I love them very much. 

See, if I claim to be a Christian but don’t serve others or quit when it gets hard, what good is my faith? James 2:14-16 says “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?”  Make no mistake, the Bible is clear that works do not save us and that we are saved by faith alone.  Our works are a way to show others that faith.  My faith gives me the desire to do good things for others. It motivates me to keep going even when I am tired.  Not to bring myself glory, but for the sole purpose of pointing others towards Christ.

Each day we are given a valuable resource.  Our time.  It is up to us to choose how to use it wisely.  There are so many opportunities out there to serve others that we don’t have to look very far.  Smile and offer a stranger a kind word, cook a sick friend dinner, cut an elderly neighbor’s grass, the choices are endless. 

“Yesterday is gone, tomorrow has not yet come. We only have today. Let us begin.” Mother Teresa

Lord Jesus, Help us to be intentional in the way we serve others.  Help us to use our time wisely, keeping our focus on You.  Help us to be motivated by bringing you and you alone the glory.

Devotion written by Ruth Wittenbrook