Defined By Our Obedience

Matthew 28:18

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."

Jesus proclaimed His authority over all things before He told His disciples to go out to all nations.  He wanted them to know that He was with them every step of the way.  He wanted them to know that there would be no day nor hour in which He was not present with them.  He wanted them to know that He wanted to accomplish His work through them.  He wanted them to know that there was nothing that could not be accomplished through Him.  

What He did not say to the disciples was, "Thanks, I could not do this without you."  God can accomplish His plans without any help from us.  If we are not obedient in doing the things that He asks us to do, the loss is not His.  He will find a replacement to do His good work because He loves to use His children to accomplish His work.  It brings Him great pleasure and glory.

But if we are not obedient to the things that He asks us to do, it is our loss.  The work that we do for the Lord is more about our sanctification process than the results of our work.  Who we are in Christ is defined by our obedience to His calling.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the privilege of serving You on this earth.  We rejoice in knowing that we bring You great pleasure and glory when we do Your good work.  We pray, Father, that You will open our eyes so that we may see the ways in which You are calling us to serve You.  We pray, Lord, that You will prepare our hearts to surrender to Your will for our lives.  May all that we do be for Your pleasure and Your glory.  We ask all these things in the name of the Great King Over All the Earth, Jesus Christ.