Colossians 3

Colossians 3:18-25  Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.  ¹⁹ Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.  ²⁰ Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.  ²¹ Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.  ²² Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.  ²³ Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,  ²⁴ knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.  ²⁵ For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.

I am a big perfectionist…there I admit it!  I enjoy doing things “the way they should be done.”  Certain things should be done a certain way.  No cutting corners.  I struggle to understand doing something “the wrong way.”  Over the years I have learned that sometimes what you have done is “good enough” and we need to move on.  If we remember the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42), I don’t think Jesus was saying they didn’t need anything to eat.  I think He was telling Martha that lunch meat sandwiches would have been ok, a four course meal was not necessary… she could have made some quick sandwiches and then joined in with the disciples.

Our passage today gets a lot of bad press.  The title for this pericope in my Bible is “Rules for Christian Households.”  We don’t like rules.  We don’t like being told what to do.  But – the main point of this passage comes in with verse 23, “whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”  The translation literally means, “whatever you do, do it with all your heart.”  I love that!  If you can’t be proud of what you are doing, maybe you need to reevaluate.  If you can’t say you tried your best, maybe you need to reevaluate. 

We should do everything as if we are doing it for God.  We are His representatives and others will notice if our standard is any different than that of the world.  Our standard should be God’s standard…even if we’re just making sandwiches!

I’m praying for you!

Pastor Amy