Stop Labouring In Vain
When God gives us life, we don't know how much time we have to use that life. But whatever time we have is a gift from God, and we must use it wisely in every activity throughout the day. We must seek God's directions on how to manage our days wisely so that we can give our time to fulfil God's plan.
Psalm 127: 1- 2:
"Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.
It is God who can give meaning to our lives and allow us to sleep soundly. Apart from God, we labour in vain.
As a child, I heard a Native American Indian story, which has always stayed with me. A man found an eagle's egg and put it into the nest of a prairie chicken. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them.
All his life, the eagle, thinking he was a prairie chicken, did whatever the other prairie chickens did. He scratched in the dirt for seeds and insects to eat. He clucked and cackled. And he flew in a brief thrashing of wings and flurry of feathers no more than a few feet off the ground. After all, that's how prairie chickens were supposed to fly.
Years passed. The eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird far above him in the cloudless sky. Hanging with graceful majesty on the powerful wind currents, it soared with scarcely a beat of its strong dark brown wings.
"What a beautiful bird!" said the eagle to his neighbour. "What is it?"
"That's an eagle, the chief of the birds," the neighbour clucked. "But don't give it a second thought. You could never be like him."
Thus, the eagle lived his life groveling and picking at the ground, never experiencing the exhilaration of flight or the majesty he was born to possess.
Tragically, this is the picture of many Christians today. We do not look up to God for our direction. We do not have an eternal perspective of life. Instead of soaring on wings like eagles, our lives are reduced to a dull routine of existence.
Unless God builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. Only with God's guidance to direct our path can we manage our days wisely.
Dear God
Thank you for your Word that assures us that if we put our hope and trust in you, we can 'soar on wings like eagles' and fulfill our God-given potential. Grant us wisdom to lead meaningful lives so that we may know to number our days and make us our time on earth to bring glory to your name, knowing that if we delight in you, you will give us the desires of our hearts.
In Jesus' precious name, we pray. AMEN.