Devotional By Stephen Westrick
Ready for a great word? Today we are continuing our series on God’s Work In You! Sophomore student Stephen Westrick is sharing a powerful devotional on how we can be successful as God finishes His work in us. Let’s dive into this timely word!
James 2:17 “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead”
Isn’t it amazing that the Creator of the stars, the One who spoke something from nothing decides to invite us into partnership? The truth is that we all have a part to play in His Kingdom. We all have our own little zone that we are in charge of. If we all have a part to play, then best play it well! This is for Jesus after all! In my opinion one of the most important factors to being successful in God’s Work is intentionality. I want to share with you three ways that I’ve found to become more intentional.
Have you ever been super comfortable while you are watching a movie? What happened? You got tired right? You might have even fallen asleep? There can be a certain danger in comfortability, where we get so comfortable in what we are doing that we don’t want to act. We can get so accustomed to our lives looking a certain way that we refuse to talk to that homeless person. Or maybe we are so comfortable in our shell that we don’t reach out to that random person you met in line at the grocery store who, unbeknownst to you, is struggling badly and needs Jesus now! It is okay to love your life and where you are at, but don’t let it hold you back from following the Holy Spirit!
I have this weird habit when driving to completely zone out sometimes. For instance, sometimes I’ll be cruising down the highway and get into deep thought, then later I’ll snap out of it only to find that it has been like 20 minutes and I’ll wonder what even happened! To be honest it is probably not the safest thing! I feel like we often find ourselves like that in life; where we are just going along, aimlessly drifting through our life. Don’t let the cares of this world distract you from your true mission: to share Jesus and His love with the world. I have a challenge for you: think of one way you can show God’s love to someone this week and do it!
We have been graciously given this life. It is best to make the most of it. James 2:17 speaks to the importance of action being added to our faith “Faith without works is dead.” What good are all of our suave words and vanity if we refuse to “love our neighbor”? What good is becoming the best singer, if we never speak out His name to others? What good is having a bunch of friends if none of them know who Jesus is.
How crazy is it that God wants to partner with us? He wants to be present with us. God desires to use us to make Him known. All we need to do to accomplish God’s work in our life is not to get comfortable, think it through, and to make it happen. What would happen if Christians across the world labored in the work of God? What would happen to crime rates? What would happen to the influx of violence and homelessness? Work is a verb, an action. So make God’s Work happen today in you!
