The Next Faithful Thing

Good Monday morning on this great week that culminates in Resurrection Day. I have heard some tell us to just do the next right thing. Whatever the Lord has called us to do, we should have a next thing on our plate. We have neighbors to help, and a God to worship. We also have charities to give to, and a government in need of taxes. However, friends and relatives may disagree on what is the next right thing for me, you, and each other. Perhaps the next thing is not a voting matter.

In place of what the world might say is the next right thing, I think that my job is to do the next faithful thing. If God has called me to be poor for a season, a year, or a decade, then I will be poor in faith. If God has called me to great riches then I shall manage them in faith. Notice that poverty doesn't require management. Anything that is a condition of nothing requires little or nothing in the way of management. If we are blessed with a talent in some area of life, we are responsible to manage that talent and use it for the glory of God. If we have no talent in football for example, we are okay to just watch it. If you cannot sing well, then make a joyful noise with the congregation but don't force them to listen to you mangle a song on your own. I prefer the privacy of the shower myself.

What about faith? Is that a talent to be managed? Yes, but this one is a little different. If you bear the title of Christ-one, then you bear some of His great faith. Does your faith feel as tiny as a mustard seed? Jesus told a parable about the mighty plant that grew from the smallest of seeds. I must manage whatever faith God has given me to do the next faithful thing. This morning, that faithful thing is not to get up speaking words of defeat, but to come to God in prayer on my knees with my faithful requests. And it works too!

God does not always command me to get on my knees to pray, but other times He does to distract me from the circumstance. A little pain in the knees by way of a sacrifice does wonders to focus the mind on praying with a purpose. No long and rambling monologues that wander off into random thoughts when the knees are reminding one to stay on target. The next faithful thing may be a squashing of dark thoughts, a halting of that dread maelstrom in its tracks. Other times I may need to ask God what that next faithful thing is to be on a morning or evening. Your next faithful thing may be to serve well at work, or to get a night's sleep.

Trust in God and abide in the True Vine today.
Bucky