Hello my “Walking with Jesus” on this weekend,
I wonder how your weekend schedule these next days will differ from what your schedule is normally like during your work week. Will your weekend include some specific time to REFRESH from the demands of this past week, so you will be ready to step into the demands of the week ahead? If so, what are some of your best practices for refreshment which accomplish a renewal to purpose and passion in your life? Now ponder that for a moment! I repeat: what are some of your best practices for refreshment which accomplish a renewal to purpose and passion in your life?
As we rejoin Peter today, while he is writing his first letter to Christians around the Roman Empire in the first century, Peter is writing some very powerful words that should refresh us and renew our purpose and passion in life. 1 Peter 4:11 “If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised, through Jesus Christ.”
We looked closely at that first phrase yesterday, challenging us to consider how closely our words align with the heart of God!
Today let’s think about our busy lives. What percentage of our time, our choices, our actions, our efforts are spent serving ourselves and what percentage is spent serving other people? From the time we awake to the time we fall asleep at the end of our long days, self or others. If you are still working, no matter your job, are you working primarily to serve yourself and satisfy your own needs and desires, or are you working to serve other people?
Here’s a far more important question… are you working to serve God? Did God lead you to your job and does God give you the strength and wisdom to accomplish your job? Have you considered this: How does your job fit into the larger picture of what God is trying to accomplish in our world? So… are you working for God, for yourself, or for the benefit of others?
Of course, we noticed that Peter began that powerful statement with the little word “IF”. “IF anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides…” IF means I face a choice! And we do, don’t we? Many times, every day we face choices about what we’ll do with our time, our talents, our ideas, our resources. Weekends provide us a weekly opportunity to do three very significant things… Refresh, Reflect and Realign, do you agree?
We REFLECT on the past week or month or years, and of course we think about the choices we made and the results of those choices. We think about how we spent our time, what we accomplished, what we experienced, and we naturally evaluate, asking ourselves lots of important questions which all bring us to one question: what should change? 
Weekends give us the opportunity to REFRESH our bodies, souls and spirits. I wonder if you’ve learned how to maximize your weekend, so you truly are fully refreshed come Monday morning. I don’t mean rested, I mean refreshed in body, soul and spirit! I remember as a boy my father had a very demanding, frustrating job for some years. He worked very long hours during the week and by Friday night he was exhausted in body, soul and spirit. His weekends were refreshing, but by Sunday late afternoon, his mind was already turned toward Monday and the challenges he knew awaited him. Monday encroached on my Dad’s weekend and robbed him of the full refreshment, reflection and realignment God intended for him. So, have you and I learned how to maximize the refresh component of our weekend, especially refreshment of our souls and spirits? How much of your refreshment is alone time, and how much is time with others, and how much is worship time with God?!
And then there’s the third very important weekend word REALIGN! Have you found good ways during your weekend to realign your priorities, your plans and even the details of your life, so as you spend your life you are confident you are accomplishing your purpose, and finding the fulfillment in life God intends for you? Now that’s a really big question, isn’t it? Here’s an important truth from God’s Word that has helped me greatly with this: “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.” (Prov. 19:21) Now link that truth with this one from Psalm 37:3,4 “Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Find your delight in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Now, ponder that a while my friends, it’s really powerful, isn’t it?
So, as we conclude today let’s go back to Peter’s words… “IF anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides…” Honestly now, how often do we consider that every moment we are alive we are entirely dependent upon the God who created us? You and I don’t keep our hearts beating or our lungs breathing or our brains functioning…God does that! So, are you able to say that you understand that everything you do is being done in the strength God has provided you?
When it comes to serving this is very much true, especially if our service is doing something we don’t enjoy or helping someone we don’t particularly like. Now that is serving in the physical strength God provides, but it’s also serving with a deep soul strength that only comes from God in the dynamic relationship He invites us to through the Holy Spirit living within us. And do you see that when we serve someone we don’t particularly like or we serve doing something we don’t enjoy doing, we are honoring God in a special way, can you see that, my friends?
Now watch: If there really are nearly 1 billion Christians in the world, what if every day each and all of us intentionally looked for ways we can honor God by serving our world, in ways that would help this world be a better place? That is what Peter meant when he wrote: “…so that in all things God may be praised…To HIM be the glory and power for ever and ever.”
Yes! When we, God’s people, serve God’s purposes in this world, by serving the needs of this world, with God’s strength and the smile of Jesus on our faces, then God is praised, and the name of Jesus is honored and empowered! Is the name of Jesus respected and honored where you live my friends? So, I have two questions for us to consider this weekend, are you ready?
1. This weekend… what is your plan for REFRESH…, REFLECT…, and REALIGN…?
I urge us to neither rush through nor sleep through this weekend! Let’s make it count by having a plan to awaken Monday morning Refreshed and ready for a busy week; having done some good, honest Reflection on our lives; and with our priorities Realigned with God’s best for us!
2. This weekend… let’s seek balance between our time serving ourselves and our time serving others in our world.
And let’s seek to serve only and always in the strength God provides us…physical strength, emotional strength and spiritual strength! And let’s be sure we have some wonderful time with Jesus this weekend, gaining a fresh perspective from Him, on how He sees our lives and our world!
And yes, I found a song that I know will refresh you this weekend, my friends…
Today’s Scripture is 1 Peter 4:11.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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