Be All You Can Be

Colossians 3:23-25, “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.”
Sometimes wisdom comes from the most unlikely places. Sometimes it may even come to us from our children. Jesus said,“ Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” Matthew 21:16 The army has coined a phrase, “Be the best you can be.” That means to give all you have to being a soldier. That is good advice and something we should all take to heart.
In a conversation with one of my sons I began to see something that I had ignored for years. After all I was the parent and I had all the answers. Well that is what we all think, right? Reflection on the wisdom that was imparted to me I quickly saw I had missed some very important things. Then as I was seeking the Lord to give me strength and guidance I saw the verse in Colossians 3:23, “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men” Had I only been striving to please men and not the Lord. That was the wisdom that came from a conversation with my son.
I also found in Jeremiah 29:7, “And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.” We don’t always understand or know why we are carried into captivity either by choice of circumstance but for whatever reason there is a lesson we must learn. In Jeremiah god is telling the Nation of Israel who were captive in Babylon to “And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives”. He is telling them not to set around wishing they were somewhere else doing something else instead they were to be faithful to Him and He would take care of them. We must remember the Lord knows what we are in need of and He knows the lessons we must learn to be the Best we can be in His service.
We can’t always choose out circumstances in life. We may not be able to change many things in our lives. Our situation may be difficult and the future not as bright as we would like it to be. But we can be all we can be in the condition and situation we are in.
Israel was not at all happy about being in captivity. God had a plan that if they would be faithful He would carry them to a safe place and reward their faithfulness.
So then no matter where we are what we are involved with, “Wherever you are be all you can be.”