2216 Carry the Basket

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

Congratulations, your gift of a new day is here. Ready to live it big?

You're listening to the BIG Life Devotional Podcast. Now, here's Pamela to get you fired up for all God has available for you today.

Pamela Crim (0:16)

Well, good morning, beautiful. Welcome to a brand new day of life. It's so good to get to be alive today. Happy Thursday, my friends. Let me also say welcome to your retreat day for all the girls coming in for our Tennessee Treehouse Retreat. I cannot wait to meet you this evening. We get to share just the most amazing time together. I'm really excited about it. I got to be honest with you, my cup is still filled to overflowing from yesterday's experience, and I'm going to get to tell you all a little bit about that during the devotional today. So don't you worry, I'm going to fill you in. The title of today's episode of the BIG Life Devotional podcast is Carry the Basket. And this is part three of our Miracles of Jesus series. So what is kingdom work? To put it simply, kingdom work is partnering with God in what he is doing in the world. It's the stuff that really matters forever. And really, it's the stuff Jesus did. Everything Jesus did was kingdom work. Every encounter, every conversation, every step taken was his partnership with God to fulfill God's good plans for the kingdom here on earth.

Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6 verse 10, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Most of us can even just recite that. But what does that mean? When we genuinely pray that, we're essentially asking God, what would you want done here?

And then we become willing to be the ones who do it.

So let that be your heart today. Let that be your intention. God, whatever it is you want done here today, I'm willing to do it. And could we just keep it that simple? We have a unique way of making everything about us and making everything complicated and messy and fussy. But what if we just keep it that simple? God, whatever you want done here today, I am willing to do it. So to put that into practical terms, if you're dealing with a difficult daughter or a disgruntled son, God, what do you want done here? I'm willing to do it. And with that perspective, it's much easier to see that it's really not about the messy bedroom or the skipped assignment or the refusal to wake up on time. Isn't it so much more about them knowing that they're loved, that they're capable, that they're set apart, that they're worthy, that their design is perfect and the plans for their life are good? And if that's what God wants to be spoken today, will you be the one willing to say it? Or will we have to hope that a teacher says it to them? Like, why wouldn't we be the ones to say that to them? As you're dealing with a difficult person or a frustrating situation or that problem that just won't go away, we say, God, what do you want done here? Because I'm willing to do it. I'm willing to be faithful with little until there is more. I'm willing to see them through your eyes and remember how very much you love them. I'm willing to forgive. I'm willing to show love. I'm willing to serve. I'm willing to speak truth. I'm willing to pray. I'm willing to encourage. I'm willing to do whatever you put in front of me.

Because this is kingdom work. It's the work Jesus did here on earth and asks us to continue. We get to partner with Jesus. We get to be his hands. We get to be his feet. We get to be his voice, his love.

Sometimes kingdom work looks big and miraculous. I love it when it does. Sometimes it looks incredibly ordinary. Sometimes it's praying for someone who is hurting. Sometimes it's speaking someone's name so they know they're seen and not forgotten. Sometimes it's feeding somebody who's hungry. Sometimes it's encouraging a discouraged friend. And you may not see the eternal significance of the moment, but God does.

Here's the thing. You may be sitting in an eternally significant moment today and not even realize it. You have no idea what someone else is struggling with. You have no idea the impact of a small act of kindness. I remember recently speaking with a friend of mine who was telling me that she used to really struggle with depression and thoughts of suicide. And she said if one person was ugly to her or dismissed her or treated her like she wasn't important, the voice in her head was immediately saying, well, there's proof, your life just isn't worth living. You're just a nobody.