November 21
Straight from the Pastor’s Heart by Dr. Hernes Abante
Colossians 3:17 - “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”
Apostle Paul’s dedication was extraordinary. From a life far from God, he became an ardent follower of Jesus Christ. He was willing to give everything, including his life, for the sake of the Savior and the Gospel. His heart is full of Thanksgiving!
Our text tells us that whatever we do, it must be all for the sake of Christ and not for personal convenience. This is the best way to be thankful to God, especially as we celebrate Thanksgiving Day!
Do we still find people with the same commitment to serving the Lord? Today’s Christianity is no longer about commitment and surrender. It is about what we can get. People seek God and religion, and they search for faith for convenience’ sake. How is that?
Convenience is the “state of being able to proceed with little effort or difficulty.” Everything that is done for the easy way out is convenient. Here are some convenient decisions we are guilty of:
1. When we use God or faith as a crutch to help us walk the difficult life, but when things get better, we abandon the crutch to find another convenient crutch.
2. When we seek answers from the Bible but reject the Biblical truths and the commandments to obey.
3. When we use the Church to get the approval of the godly and the righteous to improve our public image.
4. When they discover that the Church can hone their talents and increase their confidence, but use them to please the world.
5. When people use faith because of a need, but when the need is satisfied, they abandon the faith.
6. When they take advantage of the benefits they get from the church, such as counseling, nursery, and children’s Sunday school (to babysit their children), but never participate in Cheerful Giving.
7. When they sing and do some tasks to show off their talents to satisfy their pride.
8. When they abuse and take advantage of the grace of God for self-gain.
9. When they come to Church only on some occasions, such as big events, to have fun and feast.
10. When they come to Church to please man and not God. Only for religious obligation.
11. When they choose a Church with better conveniences, comfort, and more benefits.
12. When they look at the numbers of the crowd and the beauty of the church facility instead of simply worshipping God.
13. When the Church begins to change to accommodate man’s approval, forgetting the Church must focus only on pleasing God.
14. When they go to Church only to meet people and not the Lord.
15. When they join the Church, they show how fashionable and blessed they are.
I can name more examples of conveniences people use in religion, faith, Church, and God.
Generally, we follow convenience when we try to get good things from God without any effort. And we think it is grace.
Praise God despite our desire for convenience. God continues to be gracious and loving. Even when we do things with wrong motives, He reaches out to us to save us and change us. When we go for convenience, go anyway. I know God will use that to change us.
Let us pray that when we come to God, it is not only because we need His blessings or because we are in trouble but because we love Him and we desire to please, worship, and be thankful to Him.
Our prayer for today:
Our Heavenly Father, we have been guilty of pursuing convenience instead of thanking You. How many times have we turned to you because we only need you? But when we get what we need, we abandon you.
However, you remain gracious and loving. You continue to be giving and merciful. For this, we want to say we are sorry. Please forgive us.
Please search our hearts every time we come to you so that we will approach you with a good heart and with the spirit of worship and gratitude.
Thank you. We pray in Christ’s most precious Name. Amen!