Christian Living

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As important as it is to wake up every morning, go to work, be involved in activities and ministries, and then get up the next morning and do this all over again, God wants us to both experience His blessings and to be a blessing to others, along the way. People need to "stop and smell the roses." God desires for us to be "the light of the world" and the "salt of the earth." Rise above the rut and stand out for Christ. We can stand above the crowd by the way we respond to people, situations, and opportunities that God causes to cross our path.

We can rise above the rut by determining to make our lives count. What are some things you can do to make the most of who you are, and where you are at this particular point in your life?

Follow your heart. I think some Christians have allowed people to tell them it is unspiritual and shows a lack of surrender to follow their hearts and dreams. Do what you want to do and glorify God through it.
H--Hear(and obey) God's Word
E--Strive for Excellence
A--Attitude
R--Reach and Run toward your goal
T--Be true to yourself and teach others

What is surrender? It does not mean to never have goals and plans. It is a willingness to give up one's plans. Allow me to use the writing of this book as an example. Suppose, after putting in countless hours of following my dream and passion of preparing this manuscript for publication, God told me to no longer continue because He has a different course for my life. Would I be willing to drop it right then and there?

If we follow our heart, we must keep our heart right with God. It does not matter, however, what other people think. True, we need to be sensitive to what our spouse and family thinks and guard against relationships being destroyed, but we cannot allow other people to hold us back in life.

What abilities do we have? I have heard some Christians say that the best kind of ability is availability. That is true as long as it is not a substitute for what one really ought to be doing. I believe God detests mediocrity. If a person is not careful there can be availability without ability, which can lead to something to no avail. There are areas of ministry that require some degree of ability in order to do it right. We cannot let just anyone do it...God deserves our very best. Why get involved in something in which we know we have little or no ability unless God directs us to do so? It sometimes is a good idea to examine our priorities and involvements and ask the question, "Is what I am doing making the greatest use of my God-given potential, and having the greatest impact on the greatest number of people?"

This article is an excerpt from John Livingston Clark's book, GOD'S HEALING HOPE: BREAKING THE STRONGHOLDS OF WRONG THINKING, published by Trafford. Copyright 2008, by John L. Clark

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