Time of Crisis: What’s Your Perspective? – {Part 2/3}

A period of crisis is the best time for you to reevaluate your values and decide where to invest your efforts. Continuing the series Time of Crisis: What is Your Perspective, this post is an alert for you to invest your efforts with assertiveness and peace in your heart from now on.

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Much effort

What will you gain from all your effort? King Solomon, author of Ecclesiastes, after reminding us so beautifully that for everything there is a right occasion and a time for every purpose under heaven, moves on to this question.

Nothing deserves our attention, our time, and our efforts more than what we receive from the hands of God by His grace. Our commitment to producing satisfaction is a waste.

I had a dream in which I saw 2 men running to a destination. It was early evening, and when I approached them, it started to rain. They then started to run faster. And I realized that they would still arrive late at their destination. Their effort was great and futile. And that is how many have lived.

What do people really get for all their hard work? I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.

Ecclesiastes 3:9-11

A Light Burden and Our Effort

There is a burden common to every human being, imposed by God. And the truth is that this burden is good, light, it is a gift of God’s grace. He created everything simple, but men can complicate.

I am not saying that we can live without difficulties. Of course, we suffer for reasons we don’t choose. But we can limit our afflictions to these external factors, avoiding creating our own problems.

Jesus invites us to come to his person for rest. He said that by faith we can share the same burden. And that burden is light. The problem is when we decide to misuse God’s grace and add other weights to our lives.

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

Creator and Stewards

Furthermore, this burden is like a gift, free, and precious. We were not created to produce something, but to steward what we are given individually. All that God requires of us He Himself enables us to accomplish easily.

The apostle Peter referred to our role as stewards of God’s grace. We have been given a gift, and our role is to manage it well. If you realize that you have a gift like encouraging others, teaching, or leading, invest in that gift. If you have children, love them, train them for life, spend time with them.

As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

1Peter 4:10

Only the effort made to steward what we receive from God is worthwhile. This includes our service but the focus is on people close to us. Sooner or later, you will conclude that the true value of our efforts is only in the grace of God received in our lives. Nothing can be added to or taken away from what He does.

God is the creator. We are stewards. That is why everything changes from the moment we choose to receive God’s grace and live by prioritizing what He has entrusted to us. Every effort made to care for the gifts God has given us is worthwhile.

Conclusion

We cannot understand everything that God does, the circumstances around us, or what awaits us there in front. But to reflect on what investing our effort directs our life in the sense that it is worthwhile.

So remember that God is good and everything He does is good. Decide to eliminate all distractions from your life and spend your energies stewarding the grace that God gives you each new day. (To be continued next week)

Prayer: God, I praise you for your daily grace on my life, for my family and your care for us. You are good and everything You do is good. I ask you to help me eliminate all distractions from my life, and dedicate my efforts to be a good steward of your grace, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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What is the Holy Spirit saying to you?
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