Inspirational Thought of the Day:

When we covet someone else’s portion, it will not be blessed should we attain it. Wait on God.

Scripture of the Day:

Lamentations 3:24

“I say to myself, ‘The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’”

Psalm 16:5

“LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure.”

Ever felt a calling of God burning in your soul, but not sure how to get to your destination? Take the next step that God reveals – walk through the doors He opens up. Ah . . . if it were only that simple, right? We get kind of confused down here and try to take matters into our own hands. People surrounding us do, too. Maybe they have the same calling and their ambition begins to cloud their calling. We can all be guilty of that one. There is a fine line between being diligent to fulfill God’s calling in our lives and striving to make it happen ourselves.

If we pursue to develop the talents God has placed within us for His glory, we can be judged for self-promotion. If we idly sit by and wait for something to happen, well, there’s judgment for that, too. Judgment abounds toward us, either way. On the other end of the spectrum is striving for position, trying to attain what we want – our own way – instead of waiting on God’s provision.

Jacob exemplified this impatience in the pursuit of being first. He wanted his brother’s birthright and blessing, but the way he went about it demonstrated a striving that did not please God. Jacob was not alone in this pursuit – he had some help from someone else. His momma wanted him to have the same position and planted the seed of deception. Sometimes people can stroke our pride and try to get us to rise up and take something that should be “ours”.

Careful. Such striving will not be blessed. Sure, Jacob was blessed, but boy did he endure a lot of pain as fruit for his striving in the flesh. He deceived to get what he wanted and was deceived by Laban multiple times. What unnecessary pain and drama could have been avoided. When we covet someone else’s portion, it will not be blessed should we attain it. Instead, we can ask God to show us the portion He has for us and work within His gifting for His glory.

People have no idea of the cost and sometimes pain endured to be in the position that God led us to. When people envy our place and want our position, we can be prone to striving, too, and feel a need to defend self or protect “our spot”. But when God brings us to the place He has for us, we don’t need to strive at all to try and keep it. The position is not ours, after all, but His. We just serve at each station He places us in and lay down any ambition of our own. Instead of an ambition for self, the mission of our ambition becomes a zeal to honor God with everything that He has placed in our hands.

There is a sweet surrender that comes from being faithful and obedient to steward the gifts of God in us and in leaving the results completely up to Him. The pursuit of fanning into flame the gift of God and developing His talents is about Him, after all. We live for His glory – and any talent, any achievement – is laid down at His feet as a return of the talents He gave in the first place. He is our portion, not the talents or position He gave.

We have the knowledge of the greatest gift of all – eternal life through knowing the One and only God! A steward must prove faithful, but our motivations are not for self. We don’t need to desire what someone else has – God’s portion for us is exactly what He wanted for us and all we need – and His boundaries lie in pleasant places.

Lord, thank You for using us at all. Thank you for letting us participate in the spreading of Your love and good news. May we never lose sight of the truth that you have unique plans for each one of us – not to be compared with anyone else or sought after for our own glory. May our only ambition be to honor You with the gifts you have given.