Devotional thought on my first day back in the office:

 ¹⁷ Everything you do or say, then, should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks through him to God the Father. Colossians 3:17 (TEV)

Monday morning started early in Hong Kong, as I was up at 4:30 am.  FInalize jamming things into a suitcase, jump in a taxi – then to the airport.  A flight to Tokyo, where at five in the afternoon I boarded another plane.  Eventually fell asleep about 6 hours later… to wake up on Monday morning, and landed at LAX.  That was the second Monday literally, and here in my office, 16 hours later, I face the grind of a third Monday, getting the paperwork and studies down for the week….

Three Mondays… capping a 12 day tour – 5 sermons, 8 Bible studies, tons of encouraging and trying to help those who have sacrificed so much to serve God on the foreign mission field.

Let me be honest – its hard to get my desire up to kick into high gear… to get focused, to plan out my short week.  And oh wait – a pastor’s conference coming up – Thursday afternoon through Saturday Morning.

And then, in devotions this morning – the above passage comes into my view…. and this..

 If we really want to sanctify our work, we have inescapably to fulfil the first condition: that of working—and working well!—with human and supernatural seriousness. (1)

Part of me – wants to dismiss these things as if they are too pietistic, to hear them as law and thereby dismiss them, assuming that grace will overcome my lack of desire, and my lack of action.  THe excuses flow quite naturally, from the old Adam.  You’ve worked hard – you need time to rest, to recuperate, let others… and in my heart…. I know that is why Paul wrote Romans 6:1 – should I let my sin abound… no.

My only cure… my only way to get back in the groove…is too look to that supernatural seriousness – to realize that I am not working alone – that the Lord is with me.  To realize that this work, whether it is doing prep work on a sermon, or visiting shut-ins, or looking through worship for this week and planning Lent… it is all about the greatest, most incredible thing I have ever heard, or experienced, the thing that sustained me on the foreign mission field, and now sustains us, as we work together in this mission field in the USA.

Something so basic, we begin and end every study here at Concordia with it… we use it over and over in our services, as if we need to be constantly reminded of this very things…

The Lord is with you!  And with our spirits..>>

He is here…

Time to get back to work… with HIM!!!!!

What an incredible blessing – to see Him working!

(1)  Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 2558-2559). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.(1)