Imagine a chart or graph that accounted for the ways each of us spend
our time. Hopefully about a quarter to a third is dedicated to sleep. There’d
likely be a good chunk for our work—in or outside of the home. If work requires
us to commute or we like to travel, we might also see a sizable allotment for
transportation time. You can fill in the rest for your schedule.
Each of us are different from each other—how/what we think about, what
we do, what we get excited/passionate about. Some of us have lots of ideas and
we’re constantly trying to create. Some of us come up with ideas occasionally
and pursue them passionately. Some of us mainly follow and apply ourselves to
others’ ideas.
Especially if you fit into one of the first two categories, imagine the
chart wouldn’t just capture our lives in general terms, but got into the
specifics. There’d be all these little slices, these slivers, identifying time
spent on a particular process from coming up with an idea to forming a vision
to researching to informing others to experimenting. This could apply to a
business concept or an invention, but it could also apply to plans for a
relationship or ministry.
Thinking about all that time and effort, we likely also think about
the end of the process: what we so often determine as success or failure. Did
all that time, work, thought, and energy result in your ideas or hopes being
utilized further according to your plans? Or did it feel like nothing you put
your mind to achieved what you hoped or expected? All of us have been through
some type of situation where we felt our contribution was a waste, a let-down, a
failure. Often those experiences make us hesitant in the future
But don’t give up! In 2 Corinthians 9, Paul writes, Remember this:
Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously
will also reap generously…God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that
in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every
good work…This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of
God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.
The primary message we usually apply this passage to is financial or
material giving. It’s the same passage in which we hear from verse 7, God
loves a cheerful giver. We’re so much more than just our money, though. God
can use our ideas, our actions, our relationships, our service—all that we do
for his glory—to achieve the ends we desire, but also to give us grace and to
provide us with opportunities to give thanks to God. Even when things don’t
work out according to our hopes, plans, and goals, might we still be able to
see opportunities as God-given and praise him?
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