Wondering About Doing Our Best

Wondering About Doing Our Best

This is our annual week of Vacation Bible School and our church really works hard in trying to do a good job for the Lord.  I think of all of our endeavors in the course of a year this stands out as our best teamwork and some of our best effort.  As the pastor I sometimes wonder if this is more spiritually stimulating for our people, or if indeed the children that we minister to.  Yes, yes, I know that this is for the kids and we definitely want to see kids saved and radically changed for the glory of the Lord.  But, with my eyes wide open to the ministry and hard work around me it is obvious that it has a positive and uplifting effect on God’s people as they serve, even when everyone’s tongues hanging out on Friday night.

There are many good reasons to do our best even when we have had unprecedented rain for the first three days of VBS.  Even when the old hymn asks, “I Wonder Have I Done My Best For Jesus?”  Here are three great reasons to do our best for the Lord.

1. Sometimes we are paralyzed by inaction and can’t do our best because we are inert. We fear failure and so we do nothing because of the unknown, previous bad experiences or scads of other reasons real or otherwise.  Paul said that there is no prize for non-participation so we need to run the race and to do our best, 1Cor.9:24-26.
2. Paul said that our conduct needs to be worthy of the gospel of Christ, Phil.1:27 and so we are to strive together for the faith of the gospel. The idea is we rise up and do our best for the Lord.  There is always concern on the part of servants of the Lord, that what we do isn’t good enough and so we stop our efforts.  God calls us to be faithful and He is the true audience and we want to do all things for the glory of the Lord (even VBS).
3. In the process of doing our best we then find joy in leaving the rest in God’s might and power. The Lord is the mover and the shaker.  He is the power and the glory.  We are not sufficient to think anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency is in God, 2Cor.3:5. The Psalmist said; “some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.”