Living for Jesus (Friday Devotional)

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.

- Colossians 3:17

For the past several days, Lindsey and I have been celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary in the Pacific Northwest, enjoying a respite from the heat and humidity of a Texas summer. By the time you read this, we’re likely browsing the shelves at Powell’s Books in Portland, where I’m mentally calculating how many paperbacks I can cram in my suitcase. And before long, we’ll be home—back to diaper changes and packing lunches and meetings at church.

Whenever we take trips like this, I always find myself imagining how “real life” could be more like vacation. I think about the things that cause stress back home, and see how a few days away makes those stressors seem unimportant. I relish how we’re spending our time, and wonder if normal days could be more like that. Vacation—even the way we do it, where the days are packed with activity—feels like a totally different world from day-to-day life.

In many ways, this is true. After all, on vacation there is no work to be done, no commitments to meet, no responsibilities you cannot shrug off or delegate. There’s a reason people take vacations, after all!

But in other ways, nothing has changed. You still need 3 square meals a day. You still have 24 hours to occupy. You still need to figure out how to get from here to there. It’s different, but not completely alien.

Add to that list the command of Colossians 3:17: “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.” The “whatever you do” is your clue that the command to live for Christ is not situation-dependent; it is universal. In times of prosperity and times of poverty, the Christian’s calling is to devote their actions to Jesus. In times of stress and times of calm, when life is easy and when it’s hard, at work and on vacation, believers live for Jesus.

Tomorrow we’ll be back home, and we’ll get back to the grind. Right now, we enjoy a few more minutes of easy living. But in both cases, our calling is the same: do everything in Jesus’ name and for his glory. For that mission never changes.