It's God Time...

What a beautiful Sunday morning it was! My brother has stayed with me the last couple of days and I was thrilled for him to get to come to my church in Stillwater this morning! Back at home, I love my church. Everything just seems perfectly how God wanted it to work out. I was so thankful when I moved off to college and found a church that God was moving in as well. Thank goodness He can be more than one place at a time! 


This morning, we talked about faithfulness. Faithfulness is not the key to salvation, but the key to ministry. Salvation is a free gift from God. You don't earn the possession of eternal life. It is given to you. Ministry, however, is what you do with the gift God has given you. In this case, faithfulness and commitment are two extremely important qualities. Right now, we are going through II Timothy. Paul writes to Timothy from jail (a hole in the ground). JB (my pastor who puts a smile on my face every time I see him) taught that in those days, at that type of imprisonment, you were not given food unless someone brought it to you. So Paul was extremely thankful for his faithful friend. He writes in chapter one...

"15 You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.16 May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, 17 but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me— 18 may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day!—and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus."

The "Day" that Paul writes of is the day of judgement. My eyes were opened to a new way of thinking this morning. I've always thought that the judgement would be just who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. No big deal. I know where I am on that note. But JB taught that really, it is a judgement of how faithful you were. Like I said before, faithfulness isn't the key to your salvation. You still go to heaven if you are unfaithful to God; however, you miss out on rewards in heaven, and opportunities to grow on earth if you fall away from Him. It makes me think. How well do I serve God? How much do I talk with Him and spend time in His word? How often do I serve and love others? How often do I share what God has done for all of mankind? 

When I thought about it that way, it was a huge eye opener. It isn't so much what I "don't do" but what I "do" that counts. Serving God and people to the best of my ability. The very best. Not that it's for the rewards, but I would love to work right along side my God in heaven rather than scrub the golden toilets (joke). 

-Much Love-

Bethany