For Thy Sake

I've been reading devotionals from a book, "Tozer for Today: Tozer on the Almighty God" recently during my quiet times. The compiler, Robert Eggert, took passages from well-known Christian author, A.W. Tozer's books and put together a daily devotional. There are some devotions that are good, and I'm glad that I read them, but then there are some, like today's, that grab me and make me think, challenge, and encourage me. 

Here is the devotion for today, September 28, entitled "For Thy Sake."

A Christian poet of a bygone generation wrote a rather long hymn around a single idea: You can, by three little words, turn every common act of your life into an offering acceptable to God. Those words are "For Thy sake"...

All this seems too simple to be true, but Scripture and experience agree to declare that is indeed the way to sanctify the ordinary. "For Thy sake" will rescue the little, empty things from vanity and give them eternal meaning. The lowly paths of routine living will by these words be elevated to the level of a bright highway. The humdrum of our daily lives will take on the quality of a worship service and the thousand irksome duties we must perform will become offerings and sacrifices acceptable to God by Christ Jesus. 

To God, there are no small offerings if they are made in the name of His Son. Conversely, nothing appears great to Him that is given for any other reason than for Jesus' sake. If we cannot die for Christ we can live for Him and sometimes this is more heroic and will bring a larger reward.

"For Thy sake." These are the wondrous words which, when they are found in the heart as well as in the mouth, turn water into wine and every base material into gold. (from Tozer's book, "Born after Midnight, pg 70-71).

As I read this devotional this morning, I was deeply challenged. There are so many times where I have viewed a task as mundane and insignificant. If I have this mind-set and attitude, where in all that I do, I declare it as "for Thy sake," my tasks become an offering unto God. The phone calls that I make, the conversations I have, the text and Facebook messages that I send can all be an offering to God. Washing  dishes, cleaning the bathroom, sweeping the floor can be an offering unto God. This devotional challenged me to not think of a task as something that needs to be completed and checked off my list, but as something I can do for the glory of God and to do it to the best of my ability. It also encouraged me that even if I feel that a task is insignificant, if I do it for His sake, it is an offering unto Him, and He doesn't view it as something small. 

I needed this devotional this morning and it always blows my mind that God knows exactly what I needed and when I needed it. How awesome is that?? :)

 I wanted to share it with you to encourage and challenge you in your walk with Christ as it has mine, even only a few hours later.