Are You Giving Your Best

Giving My Best

“I’m Giving My Best to You, Lord” – So went the song by Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir and we all joined in with enthusiasm. Well, perhaps we did and perhaps we didn’t. It depends on what we each mean by ‘giving my best’ doesn’t it? After I listened to it again today, I returned to the Word – to be precise I looked up Colossians 3:23-24 (NIV1984) “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

Then I looked at the Message version too - Colossians 3:23-24 (Message) “Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you'll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you're serving is Christ. “

That still small voice that I know so well broke into my thoughts at this point and posed this question to me – “Do you really do everything as unto me? Do you really give Me your best?” At this point I had to do some repenting – as I suspect most of us would have to. Do I really give God my best? I suspect I did give my best, but within my own constraints of time and energy. However, I know I didn’t really give Him my very best, I rarely do because I am one who has, all my life, done enough to keep out of trouble but rarely have I done my “very best”.

I regard me as typical of the “human condition”. Sometimes, where my interest and passion lies, I really do try my very hardest to get things right. I will go that extra mile. I will give that extra 10% effort, and if that’s not good enough, then I will often try again. That’s the top of my pile. On the other hand, when I’m feeling a bit low, or where my interest doesn’t quite snap me to attention, then I just do enough to satisfy myself that I’ve done enough – and I leave it at that.

That is definitely not doing it as unto the Lord – is it?

I think that, as I am Joe Average, then many, even most of us are like this. That is when the Lord broke into my thoughts again and posed another question. “With that sort of effort, is it fair and reasonable that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward?” Hmmm

Maybe not, but, such is God’s love and mercy towards us that I believe He extends even more Grace to us so that we do benefit even from our most insipid attempts to serve His Kingdom.

Isn’t that worth a Hallelujah?? \o/

So that’s a new goal, for this year, small but achievable. To do everything I do as unto the Lord. No cheating, no half measures, no more pretence that it’s ‘OK’. I will give God my best this year.

Care to join me???