Daily Devotional: Thursday, May 6
Speaker: Ben Sigman
Theme: Leaving a Legacy
Weekend Music links on iTunes: All Because of Jesus by Fee; Run by Hillsong United; Glory by Hillsong; Til I See You by Hillsong.
READ: Proverbs 4:20-27, Hebrews 12:1-3
THINK: Max Ehrman, the poet once said, "if you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself." When thinking about leaving a legacy, we may be tempted to gage our value by comparing ourselves to other people. Sometimes, we look to the left, or to the right comparing our status and rank with others to see where we fall in the pecking order. This isn't the way God does things, but it is the way the world around us does things. Proverbs 4 says, "Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you."
God has called each of us to a specific purpose that only we can do. It is different than other people's purpose, and is supposed to look different too. We are accountable to God in fulfilling that purpose, as others are accountable to God in fulfilling theirs. We are gifted differently, with different responsibilities and personalities, and were created for a unique calling in the body of Christ and society at large. The Apostle Paul writes in Hebrews 12, "...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..."
When we compare ourselves to others, we take our eyes off of Jesus. We've taken our eyes of our path, our race, our calling. Our calling was designed just for us- it's the one we will be most successful at, the one we will enjoy the most, and the one from which we will derive the most meaning. Our calling is good. If you are a leader of people, a teacher of children, a seller of services, a giver of encouragement, a healer, an advocate or an organizer, your obedience to your unique calling is important. Keep your focus on what God has called you to do, and you will leave the legacy that you were meant to leave. And it will be good.
DO: Decide what keeps you from running your race as effectively as you would like to.
PRAY: God, help me to be satisfied with the calling you have given me, and not to compare myself with others. Help me to find significance in following you and what you have for me. Help me to keep my eyes on you, and to run the race marked out for me.
The eDevotional is written each week by a team of volunteers from Timberlake Church.
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