September 16, 2022This week I have been reading “Mastering Life Before It’s Too Late” by Robert J. Morgan, a pastor with a heart to help people know God’s will for their life. In last week’s blog, the “Thought for the weekend” came from the first chapter of Morgan’s book. In that chapter, we read our Lord’s first known statement, recorded in Luke 2:49: “Why did you seek Me?” He asked. “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”
Morgan writes: “If those were the first recorded words of our Lord’s earthly life, what were His last? John 19:30 provides the answer by taking us to the foot of the cross of Calvary: “When He had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, He bowed his head and gave up His spirit.” He had completed His Father’s business and finished the work of providing redemption for the world.”
Morgan continues: “These two sentences – ‘I must be about My Father’s business’ and ‘I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work You gave me to do’ – are the verbal bookends of the life of Jesus Christ, and they serve as our template, model, mold, and standard in life.
If we’re going to master life and fulfill the distinctive purpose God has for us, we have to say: ‘There are many things I can do in life, I have many possible venues and avenues, many options and opportunities, many decisions and distractions. But Christ gave me a pattern to follow, and He died to provide eternal life. Under His lordship, I pledge to live for Him, to devote myself to the Father’s business from this moment and forever. I want to find and fulfill God’s unique docket and destiny for my life, whatever it means – just like Jesus.”
Forty years ago, I made the decision to leave my job at the Gazette newspaper in Montreal to serve the Lord in a full-time ministry. I am grateful for the many people who have made this possible: my wife, our parents, family and friends. By God’s grace, the Word of God is proclaimed faithfully by Pastor Michel Martel on the weekly broadcasts of “La Voix de l’Ēvangile.”
Are you wondering what God’s will is for your life? You can know it, by studying His Word and praying that He will reveal it to you.
Scripture for the weekend: “Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.’” John 4:34 (NKJV)
Thought for the weekend: “Success is doing the will of God and doing it with the right attitudes and in one-day increments as He assigns the work – being synchronized with the sacred. This is what the apostle Paul meant when he said, ‘I can do all things though Him who gives me strength’ (Philippians 4:13).” – from Robert J. Morgan’s book “Mastering Life Before It’s Too Late”)