What shall we do, then, to be of value within the Village? How do we know what to do? Whom can we ask?
For You created my inmost being;
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were written in Your book
Before one of them came to be. –Psalm 139:13,16
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you ...” -Jeremiah 1:5
“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. … This is My command: Love each other.” -John 15:16,17
There are different kinds of gifts, … service, … [and] working, but the same God works all of them in all men. … Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. …in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be. -1Corinthians 12:4-6, 27, 18
What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil – this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere Him. –Ecclesiastes 3:9-14
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. –Colossians 3:23
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. -1Corinthians 10:31
“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” -John 13:35
Reflecting God’s image is to become Christ-like, being His disciples. Is there a thing more beautiful than the gift of love? Anyone who has ever been on the receiving end knows the answer. In offering loving kindness to one another we are joining God in what He does. Beauty does not have to be tangible. Creativity is not limited to written words, musical expressions or compositions of form and color. That which touches the heart of another is a work of art. |