Today's Devotional Thought
April 07, 2014 by Rachel Piferi
Know When to Run Fiercely
Spring is coming! Can you feel it?
And with Spring comes sports for the Piferi 5. My oldest daughter plays soccer and my son plays baseball, so on five out of the seven days of the week, you are going to find us on either a baseball or a soccer field.
On Saturday, my daughter had her first game. This is a new team so none of the players know each other well. And, it looked like a first game. Players were out of position. No one was backing each other up. At times, they were even fighting each other for the play. It really wasn't a pretty game. And, they lost.
In this first game, my daughter was playing offense. And I noticed that when the ball was down with her team's defense, she was drifting back to play defense too. She was running all over the field, left to right, from defense to offense. And during one play, her defenders cleared the ball and because she had drifted back to play defense too, she wasn't in position to take it down the field.
At another point, she was in position to get the ball {by sheer coincidence because she had been running all over the defending side of the field}, but when the ball game her way, I noticed she did not have her usual speed to go after it. At the end of the game, I asked her what happened and she told me she was so tired she couldn't go after it. And I looked at her and said, "Do you know why you were so tired? You were too tired to do what you were supposed to do because you had spent so much energy in someone else's position. You need to let them do their job so that you can do yours. If you try to do their job, you're going to wear yourself out and won't have the energy to do yours. You don't have to do everything.?
And as those words came out of my mouth, I smiled a little in my spirit because the Lord has been trying to teach me that lesson too.
Obviously not on the soccer field, but in life.
As women, I tend to think we all can find ourselves a bit overwhelmed at times because we have taken on more than was actually our responsibility. I am sure I am not alone when I say that I can wear myself out doing things that the Lord has not assigned to me. And then when it comes to what he has asked me to do, I am too tired to do my assignment because I have gotten myself involved in things he never asked me to do. And oh what a shame to miss what God has for me in what he has called me to because I tired myself on things he didn't call me to.
Beth Moore has said, "You can't do a thousand things to the glory of God." And that is so true. You simply can't do everything and you certainly won't do everything well. And oh what a shame to do nothing to the glory of God because you are trying to do everything to the glory of God.
What is God calling you to do? What are the roles that he wants you to fill? The assignments he wants you to complete?
Are you doing them?
Are you doing them to the glory of God?
Are you doing things that God hasn't called you to?
Maybe because you are afraid to say no. Maybe because you don't want to disappoint others.
Regardless of the reason, we all need to take a lesson from my daughter's soccer game. If you're busy doing someone else's job, you won't have the energy to go fiercely after God's assignment for you. And I don't know about you, but I want to throw all I have into God's call for me. I want to know that when the ball comes my way, I am ready to go after it and do my job to further the Gospel in the roles he has assigned me.
When people ask you to get involved in projects this week or ask you to invest your time and energy into things this week, ask God if this is where he wants you. Ask him if this is your assignment to run after or if it is for someone else. And, if it's not for you, then rest comfortably in the fact that God has another job for you to do and when he assigns that one, then run with all your might after it!
You can't do a thousand things to the glory of God this week. But you can do the ones he gives you!
Happy Monday everyone! Run fiercely after only those things God assigns you to this week, okay?
November