TODAY IS…

a fine day to consider how you will answer God.

“I glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.”  John 17:4 NASB

The day will come when we will stand before God and we will have to give an accounting of how we used the knowledge, talent, and abilities that were a gift from God while we were on earth. Christ had accomplished, or finished, the work that God had given Him to do, and was able to say exactly that.

Will we be able to answer in the same manner as Christ?

Each one of us must ponder that question for ourselves. It is deeply personal and can only be answered by us.

In the very beginning of this collection of daily thoughts on the gifts that God gives us is the statement, “I have also tried to demonstrate that we are never too old to take our place as a child of God and seek His love, comfort, guidance, and protection.”

It is of the utmost importance that those among us who have come to know Christ later in life also understand that it is never too late to fulfill God’s purpose for us and to make use of our talents and abilities.

Anyone who is concerned about how they will answer the question because they have lived a long life wandering aimlessly through forests of immorality, deserts of sin, and mountains of disobedience, need only understand that if we have since accepted Christ as our Savior and have tried to live in a manner that demonstrates our love for those around us and our love for God, then we can answer confidently that we have used all that we have for the glory of God.

When we discover the beauty of salvation and all of the benefits that come from knowing God is not what is important.

God will use all of your experiences wandering through those forests, deserts, and mountains to refine your faith and to help you understand the pain, problems, and doubts of others. Armed with the wisdom that can be obtained through faithfully reading God’s word, we can draw upon our own experiences – no matter how painful or unpleasant – to help others in ways that we never thought possible.

Humans have a bad habit of leaning toward comparisons.

“How does my house compare with the neighbor’s?”

“How does my job compare with that person’s job?”

We compare the way we look, televisions, bank accounts, lawns, husbands, wives, even children.

God doesn’t compare us with anyone, so neither should we. If you’re worried that the length of your service won’t stack up when compared to that of someone else, you need not be concerned, for that will not be a comparison God will make. He will look to the quality of our love for Him and for those around us, and He will look to see how we used what He gave us once we figured out what those gifts were for.

The question will never be, “When did you come to know God through Christ?”

The question will be, “What did you do once you had the knowledge?”

Be sure you can stand before Him and say, like Christ, “I glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.”

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Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson