A Childlike Week

Especially on Mondays, I wake up with the weight of the week on my shoulders. It’s not that there’s always a crisis I’m bracing for up ahead, but that there are so many contexts I’m embracing up ahead. Home, work, church, friends, neighborhood…each one calls for attention, and I want to give it fully. But how to give myself to each one at the right time, in the right way, meeting the right need, is often what concerns me on a Monday morning. 

Today as God met me, Ephesians 5:1 & 2 spoke the direction I need for this week:

“Therefore be imitators of God…”

In my home, imitate God

In my work, imitate God

In my church, imitate God

In my friendships, imitate God

In my neighborhood, imitate God

So this is supposed to be helpful?! You might say it sounds like an unreachable standard. Yet, it’s the next phrase that brings it down to scale:

“...as beloved children,”

Little children stick close, wide-eyed to their parents’ actions, words, and body language.  They don’t overanalyze or second guess whether it was specifically in one context or another that their parents’ behavior applied, and so they indiscriminately imitate them. Blunders abound. Laughter abounds. Parents blush in embarrassment.

But God invites our eager, childlike imitation of Him, because His character and actions are applicable in every context, no filter necessary. It’s how Jesus lived on earth: “...whatever the Father does, the Son does also.” John 5:19.

When I stick close, wide-eyed to God Himself, what I’ll see in Him is love, as Paul continues in verse 2:

“and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us…”

Giving up self in imitation of God applies in every context of my week. Surely, blunders will abound when I’m more childish than childlike, but my Father is with me every step to pick me back up and show me the way again. “For I the Lord your God hold your right hand. It is I who say to you, ‘fear not; I am the one who helps you.’” Isaiah 41:13

Good morning!

There have been plenty of Saturdays or summer days when our boys have slept in, and we’ve already left the house by the time they get up. On those occasions, instead of texting, I’ll typically leave a scrap paper note on the kitchen counter with a cheery “Good morning, guys!”, an explanation about the day, and a (small) list of chores for them. I’ll finish it off with a 🙂 and a few scribbled xoxox’s. 

Very inspiring, I’m sure. 

But what if I was the one to discover notes on my kitchen counter with details from God about the next 24 hours ahead of me? What if the Apostle Paul left a sticky note about the good I could do in the world? That would be pretty inspiring, and I’d probably wake up in expectation about what each message would be for that day. Like a piece of scrap paper left on your counter, may these short messages inspire your work this week:

MONDAY: 

Good morning, child of God! As you roll out of bed, God’s favor rests on you. No task you accomplish or job you perform can earn His love for you today.  He already extended His grace for your eternity in Christ, and now He reaches out and invites you to join Him in His good agenda planned out ahead of time.

Check out Ephesians 2:8-10

TUESDAY: 

This world needs so much, so, as you wake up to the day with Jesus, let Him guide you in His ways and in His work, which are more significant than a to-do list with good deeds to check off.  May He deepen your understanding as you follow Him and grow the good you do with Him so that it blossoms into fruitfulness that makes Him smile. 

Colossians 1:9-10

WEDNESDAY: 

Strengths, abilities, and gifts, planted graciously in your life by God’s hand, are meant to be sown generously from your life for others’ benefit.  You’ll never run out of His grace, and it only multiplies as you pour it out. May His abundant grace in you do abundant good through you so that joy and praise spring up like fields at harvest. 

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

THURSDAY: God prompts good desires inside of you, and although you might be uncertain about where those could lead, your step forward by faith today is the work He empowers. May He fulfill those desires and infuse your faith for His glory. 

2 Thessalonians 1:11,12

FRIDAY: Sometimes doing good all week is tiring. When it wears your heart out, may you remember whose blood is pumping through you. Jesus gave Himself up to the point of death and then raised to life to become your endless stream of comfort and hope as you do good works in sync with His heartbeat. 

2 Thessalonians 2:16,17

SATURDAY: When you’ve tried to do good all on your own, you sit like a dirty cereal bowl, useless in the sink. Christ washes you and sets you upright so you’re prepared at any moment to do good works in His house, fulfilling His intended purpose for you. 

2 Timothy 2:21

SUNDAY: Yes, your education, background, and life experiences contribute to the good you’re able to do today, but even the best of these combined will leave you lacking. It’s scripture that molds you into the type of person who has what’s really essential, so open the Word this morning, and you’ll be equipped for the good work that’s just waiting for you to show up today.  

2 Timothy 3:16,17

🙂

Your workday matters

In the beginning, God, the Master Designer, created a physical world that He deemed good. He included humanity in His good creation, but he distinguished us above the rest of the created order by making us in His image. Our responsibility was to steward the abundant potential He’d woven into the earth for the sake of the world’s flourishing and to the glory of the Creator.

But mankind rejected this plan, wanting to define good ourselves, instead of living by how God had defined it. Now, instead of stewarding all that God made, humanity neglects, destroys, or worships God’s creation to the destruction of our own souls. Everything is out of alignment, physically and spiritually.

The promise we cling to for our future is that, through Christ, God will one day completely restore his creation that’s been misaligned by sin. He will turn chaos into order; He will make the broken whole; He will make what’s wasted, useful, what’s ruined, beautiful. Everything lost under the curse is finally reversed entirely. 

Until that day, we participate in God’s restoration process every time we put our hands to work, bringing order, wholeness, or beauty to the world through our jobs. While we're on this earth, we’ve been entrusted to research, discover, and utilize the built-in laws and principles that uphold our world and lead to its beneficial use. We’re entrusted to apply our abilities, giftings, strengths, insights, and responsibilities for the good of those around us and in reflection of our Master until He returns. We take part in:

God’s orderliness if we’re accountants or secretaries

God’s creativity if we’re designers or chefs

God’s justice if we’re in law and government

God’s truth if we’re teachers or researchers

God’s care if we’re in the medical field or parenting a three year old

The list goes on. As we steward our Master’s entrustments, we also anticipate the completion of His work when His kingdom fully comes. Somehow, the way we steward our responsibilities on this earth, affects our future responsibilities in his kingdom.  There is an inheritance awaiting us, where the little we’ve been faithful with, becomes much for our role in God’s kingdom. The little bits of joy we’ve experienced in our role on earth become full joy in the Master’s presence. 

May you experience a glimmer of that joy in your workday, because it matters to Him.

For more, see Genesis 1-3; Matthew 25:14-29; Romans 1:20-23, 8:18-28; Colossians 3:23-24

Easter Monday after Resurrection Sunday

2 Corinthians 4:7-11

Monday will never measure up. It always sits in the shadow of Sunday and follows on the heels of eventful weekends, forming contrasts too great for this mere weekday to overcome.  Monday has a reputation for being the rule-keeper of the group by signaling reality, sounding the alarm clock, and infamously shutting down fun times. We usually dread it and wish we could play a Skip card on it. 

Monday means back to business, back to normal, back to school, back to reality, back to routine weekdays, and even more so when it follows a holiday like this one.  On Sunday, we rightly celebrate, sing, invite, and dine over joyous truth worth every ounce of energy, but what does the resurrection mean when I wake up the next day?

If I’ve claimed Christ’s death and resurrection on my behalf, then He is living in me. His life in me must mean something for weekdays of paperwork, crying children, loads of laundry, upset clients, overdue bills, unmet expectations, questions about the future, broken relationships, and everyday normal living. How does the power to defeat death translate into power to live my days?

2 Corinthians 4:7-11 helps us understand what this holiday means for the week:

On Monday, when people and situations are pressing in from every side, it’s our living Savior in us that keeps us from crumbling under the weight of it all. 

On Tuesday, when we’re perplexed about which way to turn, what decision to make, or whether we even have resources for the next step, it’s the power of God that raised Christ, which keeps us from despair in our confusion.

On Wednesday, when we feel hunted down, on the run, or harassed for our faith, it’s the presence of Christ that will not abandon us.

On Thursday, when life swings for a total knockout, it’s Jesus’ death we’re tasting, but it’s His life that guarantees we will not be destroyed.

What are Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday for, if not for weekdays like these?