Are You Chosen or Are You Choosing?

You may be following God's path for your life, maybe even serving on ministries or missions outreaches in your church. The question is: Are you doing it for the glory of God?

It can feel so amazing to be following the path that God has set out for you in life. Everything seems to flow more smoothly when you finally choose to let go and let God do His thing. Following God's path could be something as simple as serving on a certain ministry at church. It could also be packing up your belongings and moving away from everything you know to go somewhere else that really needs your help. Whatever it is that you're doing while following God's path for you - are you glorifying Him while you're doing it?

I know, it sounds like a pointless question. Why would you not be glorifying God while doing what He wants you to do? It has a lot to do with your spirit while you're performing those actions. Are you doing what's set out for you only when there are others around to witness it and compliment you after? Are you posting all about it on social media and waiting for those positive reactions and comments? Those are prime examples of following God's path for your life, but not glorifying Him in the process. It might seem like that isn't possible, that something like that can't happen - but it can and it does.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Romans 12:1-2

I've always loved this passage. We are called to present ourselves as a living sacrifice to God, the Bible says that it's our reasonable service - meaning that it's only fair we do this for God after all He has done for us. When we dedicate our lives to God like this, we are destined to bring Him glory in whatever we set out to do. Being dedicated to God in this way means that we won't conform to the ways of this world, which is honestly quite a relief in this day and age. Instead, we are to show the world around us what God's perfect will is. How can we define God's will? By doing exactly what He has set out for us in this life - following that path He has so carefully crafted for us. As long as we continue to walk with God and act as He directs us to, we will be displaying God's perfect will to everyone we come in contact with. Sometimes, you don't even realize you're touching someone while following God's directions. To me, those instances are just so amazing. My friend impacted my life in such a huge way just by following what God wanted her to do and she didn't even realize she did. She was just following what she felt God was directing her to do and did it without asking any questions. When we follow God like that, we are playing our part in presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice. I believe part of being that living sacrifice is striving to bring glory to God in everything we're doing. Not seeking out attention or positive remarks. Simply following God's directions and doing so without asking Him why.

Have you ever heard the parable of the talents? This man gave each of his servants a varying amount of talents before setting out on a journey: One got five, another got two, and the last got one. The two servants that had received five and two talents went out and traded their talents and ended up making double the amount of what they were given. The servant that was given one talent decided to hide it by burying it in the ground. The man eventually returned from his trip and wanted to check on each of the servants and what they had done with the talents they were given. He was delighted to find that the first two servants had doubled the amount they were given. He congratulated them by saying, "Well done my good and faithful servant. You were faithful over little, and now I will make you ruler over many things." As you could probably imagine, the man wasn't too excited to find out the last servant had just hid the one talent he was given. He scolded the servant saying, "You lazy and wicked servant! You should have deposited that talent in the bank! Take the talent and give it to the servant that has ten talents." I shared that story to share this: We each have our own God-given talents. Are you using your talents and hypothetically doubling what you have or are you hiding it in the ground? Are you going to hear "Well done my good and faithful servant" or "You lazy and wicked servant"?

"So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31

My school took the first three days of the year for us to go to a camp. There were a lot of activities, swimming, chapel sermons, Bible studies, spiders, and delicious food. Before every meal we would stand by our seats and recite 1 Corinthians 10:31 then pray over our food. That's what I associated this Bible verse with for the longest time - until about a month ago. I revisited this Bible verse while thinking of an encouragement I could send to some volunteers I was reminding about serving the next day. That's actually what inspired this whole post. After reading this verse again, I found the true meaning - it's way more than a mantra to repeat before mealtimes. Whatever we're called to do, we must do it all for the glory of God. Notice it doesn't say do it some or do it most for the glory of God. Do it all for the glory of God. It's easy to serve on a ministry at church, but not give it your all because of an unseen circumstance - you're tired, you're stressed about something else, you just aren't feeling it that day - but in doing that, you're not giving your all. You're not doing it all for the glory of God. You're just doing it because your name was on the schedule and you don't want to look bad by not showing up. I know, I've been there. How did I go from merely showing up to giving it my all? I took a step back and prayed. I prayed that God would spark my interest once again, that He would help me do everything I needed to do all for His glory. I said it once, and I'll say it again - prayer is powerful.

I'm going to finish with the very question I posed in the title of this post: Are you chosen or are you choosing? Are you doing what God asks without any questions or are you waiting for someone to come along and recognize what you've accomplished? If you don't feel like you're doing everything to the glory of God, I implore you to pray and ask Him to light your fire once again. Ask Him to help you get back on His path if you feel you've strayed from it. God loves us and wants to help us whenever He can - He's not just going to sit and watch us, laughing at our mistakes. He's not like that. I hope you all feel encouraged to use your talents, to follow your calling, all for the glory of God. That you present yourselves as a living sacrifice to God.