But Master...

The title of this TGIF caught my eye and it did speak to me =)

But Master...
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2 by Os Hillman
Friday, February 25 2011

Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets" (Luke 5:5).

Have you ever argued with God? One of the first sermons Jesus ever gave was from a boat. It was Simon Peter's boat. Jesus used a businessman's business to preach the Gospel. However, Peter had to first make his business available to the Master. When he did, something wonderful happened to his business.

You see, Peter's fishing business was in a slump. They had just fished all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless, Peter made his boat available to Jesus to use as He wished. Jesus used it to preach to the multitudes. After Jesus used Peter's boat for His purposes Jesus did something interesting for Peter. He blessed his business. However, Peter almost missed the blessing because he began to argue with Jesus. Peter was looking at the market conditions instead of the instruction of Jesus. Something inside of him made him reconsider Jesus' instruction. Jesus rewarded his obedience. "When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink?" (Luke 5:6-7).

We see a number of Kingdom principles we can apply in our work lives in this story. 1) We must be willing to let God use our work life for His purposes. 2) We must not look at circumstances and argue with Jesus when His instruction seems to contradict what we have seen or experienced already. 3) We must obey the Lord.

When we obey the Lord we might just see Jesus use us for His glory and bless our obedience.

***

My reflection: I have been blessed in my degree because tho my time has been stretched i still allowed god to use it for his purposes to serve his church. Therefore, due to my obedience he has blessed me at work and at school.

This encouraged me because I know that God can do the same for me this semester. I have been so busy and tired that it stressed me so much to go back to school. I felt like i strived so much last year and nobody (or at least the ppl i want) is recognising my achivements. I started to question y i am working so hard for... that mindset must change. I am not striving to please anyone but I am doing good for God's glory. God sees and he rewards. My reward could then be encouragement to those around me too. So gist of it is to focus on pleasing God rather ppl cos i end up feeling shit and there's no point pleasing ppl cos its my life anyways not theirs and i get to benefit from the fruits of my labour.

So do it God's way and focus and i'll be ok for this year...

Thanks God!

xoxo