The Whatever's

Colossians 3:17

“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

A word we must deal with this morning on the Back Porch is whatever: a grammatical word used to refer to everything of a particular type, without limitation.  Wow, and Jesus told us give thanks to God the Father in word or deeds in whatever, in everything. 

Let’s begin when your wife tells you that you’re about to become a dad for the first time.  That was easy for most of us, but what if your boss has just told you, that very day that you’re fired from your job?  What if the neighbor’s kid has, that same day, broken your very large window with a baseball?  And what if, we all have had days like that, they have some great moments, and some that seem to have moments with no bottom to them.  Are we to handle all of these in both words and deeds by giving thanks to God the Father?   You and I both know the answer, but it is not the answer our flesh is looking for in the middle of those emotional moments.  Do we not have some rights; does God not understand that bad things happen to good people?

Long before you and I were formed, our Father, our Creator, our God knew that we would ask that question, and He also knew that Adam would willingly reject Him and that sin would come to all men through Adam’s spirit of rebellion.  So because of His great love for us He sent His Son, His only Son, the Lord Jesus to buy us out of sin.  You want to see a bad day, John’s gospel records this account in Chapter 1, verses 9-11,  “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.  He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.  He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”  It is impossible to put yourself in the place of the Lord, for His ways or higher than our ways and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts.  But just imagine for a moment that some act on your part had saved members of your family, and not only did it save them from death, it also provided for all of their needs. And one day you show-up and they not only do not recognize you, but they would not let you into the house you had provided for them.  On a scale of 1 to 10 how are you doing in the emotional department, we know what Jesus did, in all things; in words and deed, He gave things to His Father.  And that is what this verse is requiring from us.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice