Our Daily Duties

There is nothing too mighty for a Christian's hope; 
there is nothing too menial for a Christian's hand. 

 This phrase was part of a very good devotional this morning. The story behind it was one that I recently taught in Junior Church - Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem... when he rides into the city on a donkey and the people lay down their coats and branches from the nearby trees in reverence.  But this devotional focused much more on the lowly task of the two disciples that were sent to fetch the young donkey. This task, fit for the lowliest of servants, was asked of two of the disciples that were closest to Jesus. The two sosn of Zebedee, two of the three that Jesus took to the garden of Gethsemane with him as he prayed to the Father.

As the devotional points out, these two disciples didn't realize that their menial task would fulfill a prophecy spoken of in Zechariah 9:9. As they dreamed of the grandeur of the coming kingdom, they didn't balk at the task Jesus gave them, simply obeyed what He told them to do.

How often in life, are we given a lowly, menial job that we brush aside, unknowing of the ways in which God wants to use it. It so often seems like God isn't letting us serve Him or that He isn't using our lives when He isn't testing our faith or obedience in great ways. As these two sons of Zebedee, dreaming of the thrones promised to them, went on their way, doing a simple task for the Lord Jesus, I doubt they ever thought they were being used by God... but they were.

And perhaps it is in this way that we should look at our own lives. The daily drudgery and tasks that we must do each day are all an intricate part of the Father's plan. We cannot look at today in the light of eternity and know that somehow God is or is not going to use our service. We can not make that choice, it is God's alone to make. We asked, not to decide, but to obey. And as we obey the simple jobs and perform our tasks faithfully and with joy, it is then that God can use our lives.

We would do well to learn that we are working out
 His plans in the little as well as in the great.

~Morrison