Given January 2010

Do you love the Lord?  Usually when you love someone, you want to do things for them.  So, what can we do for the Lord?  He has certainly done and continues to do so much for us!  One thing is to do what He says: “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (John 14:15).  He has commanded lots of things in His Word so we need to find out what those things are, (read your Bible), then do what it says, “Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only…” (James 1:22).

Now, God doesn’t need His house fixed, He doesn’t need money, food, or clothes.  He doesn’t need encouraging, consoling, or advising.  God doesn’t need us to visit Him in the hospital…do you see where this going?  So how can we do something nice for the Lord?  Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!” (Matthew 25:40).  So if we do these kinds of things for God’s people, we’re doing them for Him.  He takes it personally.

On the other hand, He also takes it personally when we harm one of his children.  Remember what He said to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus?  “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 26:14).  Saul¸ (later, the apostle Paul), had been traveling around arresting and killing Christians and Jesus likened that to doing it to Him.  He takes it personally.  As parents, we know if someone does something bad to our kids, they’re doing it to us too.  And if someone does something nice for our kids, we like it.  Father God is the same way.

So, how can we do something for the Lord?  We can buy the Lord lunch today, we can pay His light bill, visit Him in the hospital; we can encourage or console Him.  We can minister to His body by helping other parts of the Body; our fellow Christians.  Look around you and see which one of God’s children needs help.  Or maybe they don’t need help but you could just do something nice for them.  God takes it personally.  Let’s do something for the Lord today and this week.