 From the Editor |
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Coming of Christ
Foretold in the ProphetsWho is Jesus?Roman OccupationMiracles of ChristThe Death and ResurrectionWhat Does Jesus Expect From Me? |
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Prophecy Fulfilled!By You: PoetryExpect a MiracleJesus Christ’s MissionSimple WordsExercise Method May Have Spiritual Application |
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What Does Jesus Expect From Me?
By Brian Christensen
I work as a salesperson for a distributor of commercial supplies. I spend most of my time traveling and meeting with customers. Each year, I must evaluate the previous year to compare the results with the expectations and set new goals for the year ahead. It is always rewarding and much easier to go through this process when sales have increased. However, the expectations will be higher for the next year. During this time, I always think about what goals Jesus would have for me and try to evaluate my Christian performance for the past year.
Do I feel closer to God? Have I gained more of his wisdom? Have I given enough of myself to others? These are some of the questions I ask myself as I establish my goals for the future. I feel as though this exercise is also important to all aspects of our life. It is never easy, but always necessary for us to promote growth, remain focused, and maximize our potential. You will find most successful people will continually practice this regardless of their talent. Our walk with Jesus is the most important success to achieve because it has eternal rewards! The amount of money we make, how athletic we are, or how many movies we star in, cannot by itself, grant us eternal life. That does not mean we can’t be successful in order to be in the Kingdom. The mind-set of success and personal Christian growth can also make us successful in earthly achievements. It requires structure and discipline to maintain a balance between our lives and God’s instruction, with the Word of God completely governing the way we live and the decisions we make (Deuteronomy 10:12,13). Fulfilling Jesus’ expectations is more challenging because we cannot ask him face to face what his wishes are. We won’t “loose a sale” or be “fired.” We must search for those answers from within and through the Word of God in order to set our goals and measure our success. Jesus expects us to believe in Him and God the Father. God made a commitment to us and fulfilled His Word by sacrificing the persecution of His Son on earth so that we may all be saved. Our commitment to Jesus as our Savior and master begins with our baptism. From there, he expects us to implement his way into our life and to continue our growth in his wisdom (John 15:1-17). How much we grow and our level of success may be different for each of us and based on our individual talents. Jesus has made it clear that stagnation or unwillingness to grow is unacceptable (Luke 19:11-27). It is also important to remember that any growth or understanding, no matter how small, is a positive step forward and recognized by God. A simple conversation with a Christian brother or sister and a prayer can be a sign of growth. | |
Do not set your goals too high and think you must “conquer the world.” It is more effective to set challenging, but obtainable goals. Write them down and look at the smaller steps necessary to achieve the goal.
Don’t be too critical of yourself as trials or shortfalls can be positive and needed to deepen our understanding (Philippians 1:12-18). |
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Remember, Jesus is our biggest and loudest cheerleader with a genuine desire for us to succeed. He also was perfect in his life on earth and experienced every type of pain anyone could feel. Celebrate the successes you have achieved and sometimes work together with your brethren. God has established a level of talent and potential in each of us. Jesus is our master and coach to help us along the way. Whether or not we achieve our potential, is ultimately up to us. Acceptance of Jesus begins the journey. Setting personal goals helps us to grow, understand, and meet the expectations Jesus has for us. At this moment, I am writing this article to promote the Word of God. You are reading it. I think we have both met our goals for today! Where do we go from here? i | |