Wednesday - Your Calling?

I get lost.... a lot... and not very far from my house. So I've decided that every trip that is further than 30 miles or so, I am going to have a plan. I go to Google maps...print out a trip route... plug the address into my iPhone GPS... and check the route a few times before heading out. I can't just go out there and "wing it" anymore.

Unfortunately, so many of us are "winging it" when it comes to facing the obstacles that we find in our way. If we ever hope to avoid them or breakthru, we've got to develop a plan of action. We all have to have a way to stay on task and focus on what we are called to do. Today's devotional, by Max Lucado, addresses this whole concept of plan. I hope it brightens your heart like it did mine.

Pastor Brian

Focus on the Task at Hand
by Max Lucado

Life is tough enough as it is. It’s even tougher when we’re headed in the wrong direction.

One of the incredible abilities of Jesus was to stay on target. His life never got off track. Not once do we find him walking down the wrong side of the fairway. He had no money, no computers, no jets, no administrative assistants or staff; yet Jesus did what many of us fail to do. He kept his life on course.

As Jesus looked across the horizon of his future, he could see many targets. Many flags were flapping in the wind, each of which he could have pursued. He could have been a political revolutionary. He could have been a national leader. He could have been content to be a teacher and educate minds or to be a physician and heal bodies. But in the end he chose to be a Savior and save souls.

Anyone near Christ for any length of time heard it from Jesus himself. “The Son of Man came to find lost people and save them” (Luke 19:10). “The Son of Man did not come to be served. He came to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many people” (Mark 10:45).

The heart of Christ was relentlessly focused on one task. The day he left the carpentry shop of Nazareth he had one ultimate aim—the cross of Calvary. He was so focused that his final words were, “It is finished” (John 19:30).

How could Jesus say he was finished? There were still the hungry to feed, the sick to heal, the untaught to instruct, and the unloved to love. How could he say he was finished? Simple. He had completed his designated task. His commission was fulfilled. The painter could set aside his brush, the sculptor lay down his chisel, the writer put away his pen. The job was done.

Wouldn’t you love to be able to say the same? Wouldn’t you love to look back on your life and know you had done what you were called to do?

Copied from: http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/pastors/upwords/ (Week of May 29)

JOURNAL IT: Can you say that? Are you doing what you have been called to do? In your journal today, write a prayer out that asks God to show you your purpose...and how to overcome any obstacle in the way of achieving it!