Tune My Heart, Episode 8
- Stacy Bishop
- Sep 12, 2024
- 3 min read
Happy Sunday, friend. As you prepare for worship this morning, let’s take a moment of quiet to invite God’s presence into your awareness today.
1 Corinthians 15:58 says
58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.
Sometimes it seems to feel like we’re spinning our wheels. Life can seem to be an endless cycle of bad season to bad season. Chaos seems to abound these days and it can feel like no matter how enthusiastic we are, we aren’t making the impact that we thought we would. And that can weigh us down.
I think the word enthusiastic itself can weigh me down with guilt at times because some days enthusiasm seems to be unattainable. And reading this out of context, it truly might make you feel like you could never be or do enough.
But let’s read this whole passage, starting in verse 51.
51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power.
57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.
1 Corinthians 15:51-58 (NIV)
I don’t know about you, but this passage helps stir up some enthusiasm in me. This reminder that this life is temporary. That God has given us victory and is, in fact, still in control, gives me a boost of hope that I can sometimes forget in the face of fear. One day, my body that is riddled with hormone imbalances, achy joints, and {insert here whatever malady you may experience}, will be transformed and whole. I’ll get to be face-to-face with my Savior. God has given us the victory over everything life can and will throw our way and, one day, in the twinkling of an eye, we’re going to see His plan revealed. Death has been defeated! And how can I not work enthusiastically for the God who did that for me?
Let’s pray.
God, thank You for being the mighty, majestic, powerful God that You are. Thank You for the victory we have through Jesus. Help us to live as people who are victors, not as though we are defeated. Fuel our fire for You, that we may truly work enthusiastically for You in all that we do, knowing that You’re going to take our meager efforts and make them useful for Your Kingdom. God, we love You. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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