A Great and Noble Task

Deep down, inside each of us is a desire to be known and to be important. We want to be validated, heard and understood. It is from this desire that ambition and motivation are born. That moment has the potential for great good and great evil. In order for good to come about we first have to remember that God is the potter and we are the clay. Isaiah 64:8 tells us this, "Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." This is a reminder of our Creator. We wouldn't be here if He hadn't made us. Second, God has a purpose for each and every one of us. We can read in Jeremiah 1:5 where God specifically tells Jeremiah His plan and purpose. It read, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” We know that God has prepared works for us, even today, to complete. Ephesians 2:10 says it plainly. "For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

As ambition and motivation grow in our hearts, we need to set our eyes on Jesus and complete the works that have been prepared for us. All too often, we make our own plans and go to great lengths to accomplish them and then forget to consider the will of God. Proverbs 19:21 tells us this. "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails."

We must not be discontent with our lot in God's plans. Not everyone can be a king. Not everyone can be a great speaker. Some of us were born to lead. Some of us were born to carry out simple tasks. Consider Romans 9:21. "Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?" Do not be disappointed to feel "common." 1 Corinthians 12:14-20 explains the importance of each part. "Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body." If the feet refused to walk because they were not hands, how could the body function?

Instead of bemoaning your position, take heart from one who had no sight, nor the ability to hear: Helen Keller. She said, "I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker." This is the heart of 1 Thessalonians 4:11. "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, . . . ".

When we don't make it our ambition to lead quiet lives, we give Satan the opportunity to plant selfish desires in our hearts. We stop doing the work God has given us because we're too busy staring at somebody else's task. The singles stare at the couples. The couples stare at the singles. The parents stare at the childless and the childless stare at the parents. The child longs to be an adult and the adult longs to be a child again. Satan distracts us by telling the foot how the hand is so much better. The grass is always greener on the other side. You have to remember that Satan is also telling the hand how the foot is so much better.

Take a moment and consider your position. Are you doing the Lord's work? Or are you too busy wishing to be something that you aren't? Trust your Creator. You are exactly where He wants you to be.