Feel like you’re stuck at home?
Ever wonder if filling the juice cup for the 50th time is worth it?
Ever begun to wonder if changing diapers really has any purpose?
You’re not alone. These feelings of value and worth in the grand scheme of things creep up on many of us. What we sometimes fail to remember is that these things are of great value and worth to God. But they must be done in His power and driven by eternal values.
It can be really easy to go through a day and not consider how our actions have eternal implications. Even in the mundane of diaper changing. But these actins do have great importance.
Did you actually get anything done yesterday that matters? Like, really matters? And by matters, I mean mattering for eternity.
Maybe your activities yesterday pointed to that fact that you’re not connected to Christ like you think you are. Is that a possibility?
Many believers, most especially me, do not really understand what it means to truly live, each day, with eternal purpose. The words of Jesus are deeply convicting relating to this:
“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” – Jesus (John 15:5)
You + You = Nothing
You can do nothing apart from Christ.
“I know the Bible says that…but…I do lots of things in my day without Christ doing them.”
But do you?
I don’t want to get overly philosophical here, but, there is the Scriptural reality that there are things done in life that amount to nothing (read 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 and Matthew 7:21-23). There can absolutely can be worthless activity that results in ‘nothingness’.
We get easily confused into thinking we are the vine and He is the branch. That we can aimlessly go about activity without trusting in the Lord and thinking all is well. The things done in a day that are truly eternal and truly energized by the Holy Spirit cannot be done without the power of Christ. It’s not spiritually possible. This is the sad reality of much of the work that is done in the “name” of Jesus which will amount to no eternal value.
Value Seen in the Ordinary Stuff
Don’t get confused into thinking that abiding in Christ with the Holy Spirit’s power, focused on eternal value, only relates to momentous work like translating the New Testament or preaching before thousands. For instance, treasures in heaven can be stored up by:
- serving your children under the influence of the Holy Spirit
- helping set up tables in your church with a joyous, Jesus-like attitude
- picking up groceries for your widow-neighbor in Christ-like servitude
- installing phone lines with Spirit-guided vigor
However, be careful – these things can easily be turned into opportunities to exalt you instead of exalting Christ. That’s when you’ve become the vine. In the daily grind, ensure Jesus is the vine of your life. It will be much more rewarding now, and in the life to come.
So, changing diapers does have purpose! But that purpose needs to be grounded in the belief that my life is driven by Christ in service to Him in all that I do, even in the seemingly mundane.
Scott Foreman is the Executive Pastor of Fellowship Bible Church in Sewell, N.J. He and his wife Rachel have four boys.