I was reading in my daily devotional today and I came across a verse that seemed to jump off of the page. Check it out!

Colossians 3:23-24

23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

I read over it about 10 times. I didn’t realize how often I forget this truth. Right away I realized how often I strive to hear the words, “I’m proud of you”or how many times I lose my temper with Weiland. I would never treat or talk to Jesus the way that I treat and talk to Weiland and Jason. I started thinking about how much of my language, attitude, and actions would be impacted if I truly put this into practice.

I want to approach laundry,  dishes, and all house work with an attitude of worship. To live a life of excellence isn’t easy. Intentional living can be so exhausting and at times frustrating. But always worth it. Joy and gratitude follows.

I want my kids to experience God’s character through me in ways that will cause them to want to know and follow Him as they get older. I don’t want to have boundaries and intentional time with my boys just because I don’t want to have little jerks as kids, I want my drive and reasoning to be Jesus and that out of my love for Him, selfless and intentional parenting flows out.

In my marriage. I want to love, serve, respect, and cheer on Jason out of my love for Jesus. I want to love Jason in ways that He will be pointed and drawn even more to Jesus than he already does.

In all of my relationships, I want to be selfless, aware, caring, generous, and encouraging. I want to love and serve those around me like Jesus calls me to. These incredible people have been placed in my life out of God’s goodness and I want to be intentional with them out of my love for Him.

What I love about God is that He doesn’t call us to do something that with His help we cannot do. He will empower us to rise to the challenge. He will lavish His grace on us when we don’t get it right all of the time.

How does this verse sit with you when you consider your work place? Your parenting? Your marriage? Your friendships? Strained relationships? Are there any tangible steps that you can take in the direction of loving those in your life out of your love Jesus? It isn’t always easy, but it is ALWAYS worth it! God deserves our best and so do those around us!