He Calls You “Enough”

July 6, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.” Colossians 3:23-24 NLT

Do you ever feel like you just aren’t doing enough? Not doing enough for God or for your job or your family or yourself? Something inside screams, “Do more! You aren’t measuring up!” I often feel that way. And right now, as I am recovering from injury and surgery, I have had to revisit the underlying motivations for those feelings and remind myself of what God called me to in the first place. I’ll never be able to do enough, and right now I am even more limited. So, what do I need to remember? Maybe you need to remember it, too.

God called you to be His child first. It can be hard to remember that God didn’t choose you so that you could serve Him. He didn’t call you to work. He called you to be His. The work flows out of the relationship. The work is an outflow of love. I read this in my devotion this morning: “You can be sure of this: The Lord set apart the godly for himself. The Lord will answer when I call to him.” (Psalms 4:3 NLT) God set you and I apart for Himself. That’s all.

Believe You Are A Blessing

February 24, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’” Acts 3:25 NIV

Does being productive make you more valuable? Of course, you know the answer is no, but do you live it? You and I know that God determined our value and settled our value by paying the price for our redemption with the death of His Son. But what we know is true doesn’t always guide how we act, does it?

There is an unspoken understanding in our culture that more and bigger is better. That our value is determined by productivity and public opinion. How does that unspoken understanding influence you?

Ask yourself:

How does a search for value influence my desire to be productive?

Why do I want to manage my time?

What drives my desire for excellence?

Who am I trying to impress?

Who do I need to validate my value?

Your value is rooted in who you are. You are valuable because God has declared you to be a blessing.

Something I hadn’t considered deeply is that God’s covenant with Abraham to bless him and make him a blessing is now God’s covenant with me. He has promised to bless me. That is awesome! If I believe that, I can rest from a lot of striving to provide for myself. But He has also promised to make me a blessing. That means my presence in the world makes a difference. I can focus on being fruitful rather than productive.

A fruitful life is a settled life. A plant is not searching for value. It just is. It does what it is designed to do. It produces fruit. I am designed to be a blessing. What I do blesses others. I contribute. I have value simply because I am His and I exist. Do I live by that promise? What difference would it make in my life and in the world if I did?

What Do You Want? Productivity or Fruitfulness?

February 3, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.” Ephesians 5:17 MSG

What do you really want to accomplish with your time and how will you know when you are accomplishing it? Are you managing your time so that you are fulfilling your purpose?

Here’s a revelation for evaluating your time management. Time management is not about getting more done. Wow! How’s that for a shocker? That contradicts so much of the internet’s time management advice. So, what does it mean to manage time well?

Using time well isn’t just about being productive, it’s about being fruitful. The Industrial Revolution changed the way people think about productivity. Instead of the fruitfulness associated with an abundant harvest, as our agricultural-based society of the past viewed it, it became about doing and making more.

Fruitfulness depends on factors outside human control. It depends on factors that only God controls. Productivity is all about self-reliance and man-made options. Productivity treats people like machines that exist to make more. Fruitfulness is about fulfilling a God-designed pattern to the fullest— seed, soil, sun, rain, growth, harvest. There are few things that humans can do to control those. We can only add to what depends on the God who controls nature. Fruitfulness has to do with growth and purpose.