Hunkered Down Devotion

Revelation 14:13 (Voice)
13 Then I heard a voice call out from heaven.
A Voice: Record this: “Blessed are the dead who have died in the Lord from now until the end.”
Spirit: Yes, they will rest from their labors because their deeds remain with them.

This passage is one that is often shared during funeral services.  It is, in that context, meant as a source of comfort and peace.  And it can certainly be that, of course.  But I think, for most of us, it is at least as often a word of challenge.

Our deeds remaining with us – or as some more traditional translations render this passage, our deeds will follow us.  That only becomes a good thing if my deeds are good, and they are the kinds of things that I want people to know about.  How many of us, though, have at least a few deeds that we wouldn’t mind giving the slip too somewhere along the way?  

As always is the case, however, when it comes to our deeds in relation to God, it isn’t just about us and what we do.  We aren’t expected to go it alone – instead, God goes with us, and when we allow God will guide us and lead us as we seek to live into the lives that we have been called to.  Lives full of deeds that we want to follow us, lives lived in the Lord, lives that are blessed.  

There is no doubt that this is a challenge and a lofty one at that.  At the same time, it is one that leaves a lasting reward.   There is nothing quite like being able to remark, looking back at the end of one’s life, that they have lived a well-lived life.  That life is made one deed at a time.

Sharing God’s Love,
Chip  

Prayer:  Lord, guide us as so that the deeds that follow us might be worthy of you.  Amen.