HOW TO THINK BEYOND THE DAY TO DAY

For the past seven months I have spent the bulk of my spare time working on a house rehab project. As of now, I have spent almost 60k on repairs, made 71 trips to the project site, spent countless hours of my own time, and have hired lots of people to help with various tasks. It has been a big job and I have been pushing really hard to get it finished. Some days it has consumed me; it can be really exciting or really stressful, depending on what is going on.


But about a month ago I had a bit of a revelation. It occurred to me that finishing the house, selling it for a profit, and collecting a return on my investment should not be the only goal. I was treating it like an end in itself and the focus of all my effort. But I felt like God was trying to tell me that all the time I was spending with the people I hired (including my real estate agent, designer, skilled contractors, and numerous teenagers) was part of the purpose for what I was doing. The FLIP was one of the means God was using to have me engage with all these different people. How I act, conduct business, and relate with them (especially the teenagers) was a means for growing and discipling men and women for the kingdom of God. I felt convicted to treat it as such, to pray about it, and to plan ahead and think about how I might use a working experience to somehow point them toward the Father.

We all want our lives and work to count for something bigger than ourselves. But many of us get so caught up in the day to day stresses, deadlines, administrivia, and the like, that we forget about anything else. In the back of our minds we put God off as something we will get to "someday." And when we do think about how to better live for God in our day to day lives, it can be daunting to figure out how to take the first tangible step. But if we are being honest, many of us have a hard time even caring enough to take that step because we don't think it matters more than the tasks that we "have" to accomplish.

I was convicted by the idea that my work should be a means to build up His kingdom and not just a means to build my kingdom (a way for me to earn an income and put food on the table). I don't know how much time I have on this earth but am convicted to make the most of every opportunity with the time I have today. II Peter 2:11-12 says, "Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming." We will not live forever; God could return at any time or we could die at any time. This passage encourages us to remember that this life is not what we should be living for...we should be living for the next one, the one with him.

What about you? Have you been living your life with a focus only on all the things "you" need to get done, or are you intentional about trying to live and act as if your work, actions, and speech could have an eternal impact? Make it a point to spend some time praying and asking God how he can use your day to day mundane tasks for his eternal purposes.

What it will be like to look back over your life and see how God has used the little things in your day to day life to bring himself glory? Will you be pleased with what you will have to offer God?    

Written by: Jonathan N, March 21, 2016

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