Doing What You Love To Do

A life Of Faith (Genisis 25:1-11) Its, interesting that we can look at the fact that Abraham’s faith journey began when, Abram (his name at that time) was seventy-five years old,(five years older than I am today) when he set out from Harran” (Genesis 12:4). “Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran” (Genesis 12:4). Then 100 years later, he took his last breath at 175 years old, it says he died at a ripe old age, having lived a long and satisfying life. He breathed his last and joined his ancestors in death” (25:7-8 nlt). Its a wonderful, rememberance of a long life and I'm sure a hard life, that had a beautiful ending! When Abraham was dying “at a ripe old age and had lived a good life, he was mostly known for being “fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:21). In those years, Abraham gained a reputation of one having a strong faith. In Hebrews 11:8-19, Abraham is in the chapter, the Hall Of Faith, with many others who are characterized by obedient actions, trusting God for the impossible, and looking beyond thier earthly life, looking into eternity in heaven with God. His faith is demonstrated by leaving his home for an unknown destination, dwelling as a stranger in the promised land, believing for a son in his old age, and willingly offering Isaac, trusting in God's power to raise the dead. Abraham has always been someone in the bible I looked up to, He did have amazing faith and trust, far more than I think I have ever had. But I know that you do not have to be as old as Abraham was to have and to be full of faith. God is able to give us a strong faith at a younger age as we come to Christ and seek to follow and obey Him. Friends as we experience times of loss and hardship, we will gain great faith as we look to God, we will gain a quality of faith as we live life, being satisfied with the work of God in our lives, and we see Him at work and it builds our faith in the living God, who revealed Himself to us in and through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, His one and only Son. As I think of this, I have to go back to my childhood dreams, some of my dreams were that I would follow my fathers foot prints and be a farmer/rancher, I loved working with the livestock. But as I think back, my real dreams never came out of that vocational interest. But rather it really came out in our play. Let me explain, I beleieve it was in my younger years as a child, God planted a dream within me, that one day, I would actually do, what I played back then. We grew up in church, and we grew up, living close to our cousins. So, we got to play together a lot, and funny as it may seem now, we used to play church. Because of how we were taught, only men could be the pastor, so my cousin being female, always insisted that I had to be the pastor in our playing. I believe God planted a dream/desire in me, that one day I would be a teacher of the word. As I look back, its not far off from what I have become and I am happy when doing it. I understand that not everyone can be an electrican, or a computer wizz. But whatever that original goal might have been, the desire to pursue that career I believe came from God and a building of my faith in what God could do, in and through me. I know that enjoying and loving what I do, comes from finding genuine enjoyment in helping other to find and grow in thier faith and trust in God. It has given me purpose and has also helped others find purpose in their lives as well. This satisfaction came from a passion to fullfill the dream, the vision, in the one thing God has done over the years, is given me the ability to see and invision what He wanted me to do. It has never been exactly as I invisioned it, but it has always been a part of the vision He gave me. A big part of loving what I was doing, was being a part of seeing it come to be. Seeing the problems being solved and being creative in being part of what was happening. This kind of involvement meant number one, being called, and second being committed to the call. In the process it meant building a safe work place and building good and positive relationships along the way. Seriously, I loved the jobs, God gave me, as we went into missions. Loving my job went beyond contentment, it was the love and fulfilment I recieved from God as I obediently served Him. It gave me an emotional connection with Him as I learned to communitate with Him through prayer and His word. This is what made the difference between having faith and love for your boss (in this case GOD) in what I was doing, rather than simply having a J.O.B and being productive. I found true meaning in the work of the Lord, in helping others and contributing to a larger picture and much larger goal. When I seen, that the end results were to FURTHER THE KINGDOM OF GOD it made ever effort and feeling in that work worthwhile. Lets close off with Abrahams life - The end of Abraham’s life. It says, He died at a “ripe old age” and had lived a “long and satisfying life” (Genesis 25:8 nlt). Throughout the bible, both in the old and new testements, we see and read about Abraham’s faithfulness in following God’s instructions, we don’t read much about his work, because he did his work, because of his faith in God, his faith was his day to day work. I look at Ecclesiastes which says: “To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness” (2:26). So as I consider my life and the meaning of life and how one can find enjoyment in the midst of work or toil, this explains it. (vv. 24-25). Has life been easy, I would say yes, at times, but in other times it has been dredfully hard. But even during those hard times of loss and anxiety brought by hurt and discouragment, God was there. As I reflect on Abraham’s life examples and Ecclesiastes words it turns my thought to the fact that true satisfaction in the JOB is only found in God and doing His will. In the end, does it really matter what you will be known for? Well, in a way it does, I pray that my legacy will be that in the course of my life I had faith in God and in that faith it helped me do my job as one who wanted to follow and trust God in all that was done under the sun. That I wanted Gods help in all ofthe ways I lived life in my days He had given me. Father God, please help me, please give me a good life that is filled with faith and trust. Please forgive me when I doubt. Please, remind me to live faithfully as I walk with You—experiencing satisfaction in Your presence. I thank you, for the time you have given me to be with you each day as my morning begins. I have good days because YOU are FAITHFUL in keeping me. Thank you Lord, in Your name I pray AMEN.