“Prayer is as vital as the air we breathe. If we don’t pray, we die—spiritually, that is.” Moses Chung, Director of Christian Reformed Home Missions.
I think almost every Christian would agree with this, yet how difficult to be faithful in prayer--at least for me.
This morning my allergies were bothering me a bit, and I considered staying home from church, but I went--albeit quite late. I am preoccupied with my work situation and I was reminded just by being in church and participating in the Lord's Supper, that my faith is not a means to the end of accomplishments in the workplace, but my work is a means to the end of becoming the person God wants me to be and living the life he wants me to live.
Ephesians 4:28 gives as job motivation: "doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need." That's a bit simpler than some of the career plans we sometimes make.
Waiting to see how things will turn out, I can remember that Joel Boot presents two comforting passages, one from the Bible, Jeremiah 29:11 (which by the way was in a letter Jeremiah sent to the Jewish people who had been defeated by the Babylonians, seen Solomon's temple destroyed, the David-descended king made a shameful captive, and themselves taken away from the Promised Land into exile):
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
And a poem by the mother of the poet Sietze Buning (pen name of Stanley Wiersma), which I too have read and loved:
Amen, Father, on your planning.
Amen, for you’ll see us through.
Amen, when the cross lies heavy,
Amen everything you do.
God spoke to me through our denomination's magazine, The Banner, tonight. May I have ears to hear.
1 comment:
I often think of the Jeremiah verse and it brings much comfort. I had not heard of the prayer. Thanks, Jan.
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