Life indeed!

Life Indeed!

Do you know how to progress in your job? Is there a delineated way for you to know you are progressing? I heard someone say that they didn't really know how to progress any higher in their job because their company had just restructured the employee evaluation standards. They felt like it was impossible to get the highest rating so their incentive to grow was stifled. Where could they go from here? When a person spends so much of their day on the job, it's not very enriching to know there's not really much more they can do for success. If they reach higher sales, the bar will only be raised. If customer service increases, more will be expected. The expectation rate only rises. Where can a person find that sense of a great life when, at least in their job arena, the ceiling has been hit?

"As for the rich in this world, charge them not to be proud and arrogant and contemptuous of others, nor to set their hopes on uncertain riches, but on God, Who richly and ceaselessly provides us with everything for [our] enjoyment. [Charge them] to do good, to be rich in good works, to be liberal and generous of heart, ready to share [with others], In this way laying up for themselves [the riches that endure forever as] a good foundation for the future, so that they may grasp that which is life indeed." (1 Timothy 6:17-19 AMP)


Paul wrote Timothy challenging believers to set their hopes on God "who richly and ceaselessly provides us with everything for our enjoyment." He was to give  them a clear charge to 1) do good, 2) be rich in good works, 3) be liberal and generous of heart and 4) be ready to share with others. Have you noticed there isn't a great deal about money as the source of these things they were to do? No, Timothy had "life indeed" in view when he challenged them to make these acts a part of their everyday life - a life creating a different kind of foundation which would richly sustain them forever. (I TIMOTHY 6:17-19 AMP)

Maybe we need to ask ourselves where our treasure is? What kind of life creates treasure? Timothy exhorts his fellow believers to find their treasure in creating a foundation which would enrich them and cause them to experience growth in God's kind of life. Looking from the outside, could I see myself foundationally strong and enriched if I were to do the four things above? Yes, there is the risk of abuse by an employer or neighbor or friend when were give so freely. Even through the challenging times, Timothy believed our foundation is growing and being enriched. It is this kind of "life indeed" which will sustain us when we don't get those evaluation reviews we had believed for or the recognition we felt we earned. Let's reach where the evaluations can't extend - to the heart of Jesus. He has come that I might have life and life more abundantly. That's my kind of foundation - "life indeed!"

Father, it's so easy for me to look to recognition from my job or people around me. I know You are pleased, but I want to keep in mind the foundation I am building as I obey You. I see past today and on down the road to my future. Remind me I am building a future whose foundation is more than money. My rich treasure is in what I do out of love and caring and generosity. Thank you Father for "life indeed"!