Full Time All the Time

"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." — Colossians 3:17

Yes but, "What do You want me to do exactly, Lord?"

It doesn't matter if you're 18 or 80, that purpose-in-life question is always there, lurking. But while waiting for a voice from Above (that may or may not come), it's easy to brush off the menial tasks of everyday life as something to get through until that really important assignment comes along.

And maybe it already has.

Because God has much more to say about our purpose in life than we realize. Big picture things like putting down roots in the good soil of Father/child relationship and bearing fruit that will last. Totally mind-boggling things like cultivating counter-cultural heart and mind attitudes so that we become imitators of the One who created us as we go about our days. Bravehearted things like being chosen to declare freedom and light and joy in places of fear, confusion, and hopelessness.

While it's good to know that God is into big dreams and visions and high aspirations, and into our desire to pursue them, it's also good to remember that "this is the day that the Lord has made," and to not "despise the day of small things," and especially that "whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might..." In even the smallest, seemingly insignificant, routine daily stuff of going to the recycling center, sitting through a meeting, or multitasking on top of multitasking, God is always ready to stir up some big picture, mind-boggling, bravehearted things that are high on His life-purpose priority list:

• Like having the right attitude when it's easier to join the crowd and complain.

• Or, being quick to listen and slow to speak when someone out of the blue says, "Hey, have you got a second?"

• Or simply, just learning (slowly) the sometimes difficult calling of being a faithful servant even to those to whom you'd rather serve up something else.

When Jesus told His disciples to "wake up and look around! The fields are already ripe for harvest" (John 4:35), He wasn't just talking to those in or looking for a full time ministry. It's a call for all of us each time we ask that purpose-of-life question to stop waiting around until tomorrow for something big or better to happen, and to instead remember to seek to live full-on and full time in the now, even to joyfully look for His purpose in every single seemingly ho-hum day.

"No man ever served God by doing things tomorrow. If we honor Christ and are blessed, it is by the things which we do today. Whatever you do for Christ, throw your whole soul into it. Do not give Christ a little slurred labor, done as a matter of course now and then. But then when you do serve Him, do it with heart,soul, and strength."(Charles Spurgeon)