“³Then he Lord said, ‘My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.’” – Genesis 6:3 (ESV)

This verse seems so matter of fact, and so concrete in terms of time. And it is meant to be. We have a finite time here on earth and we should be seeking to have God abide in us for as long as possible.

Whereas the above verse is speaking of the time just before the flood, it is pretty telling as to where we are in the world today. The time of Noah was one of corruption and plenty of immorality, and doesn’t that describe where we are today? We are living in a publicized world that has little regard for what is truly right, striving to be like Jesus and love everyone regardless of what or who they may be. We are “flesh” and in being so are not perfect, but Jesus loves us and we should love others the same way.

God will abide in us when we are true to Him in all that we do. In being true to God, we are to strive to be more like Him each and every day.

Are you striving to be more like Jesus? Are you working His plan? Are you allowing God to abide in you?

“¹²Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” – 1 Peter 2:12 (ESV)

We are to keep doing God’s work in the midst of all, even the non-believers. When we do, they will see the good provided by God and will glorify God themselves.

Will we get to see their glorification, maybe not, but that does not remove the work from our path. We are to keep our eyes on doing God’s work for God only.

When you are doing God’s work, where are your eyes? What does your glorification of God look like? Are you looking at others to see their glorification or focusing on yours?

“⁸For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to how God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, ⁹and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, ‘Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.’ ¹⁰And again it is said, ‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.’ ¹¹And again, ‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.’ ¹²And again Isaiah says, ‘The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.’ ¹³May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” – Romans 15:8-13 (ESV)

Extolling God is not just for those that are in the “right place” or those that are “chosen”. We are all to give high praise to God and glorify Him.

The passage above, where taken from Romans, were cited from other books in the Bible; 2 Samuel, Deuteronomy, Psalms, and Isaiah. Each of which are from the Old Testament and before Jesus came to die for our sins. Even then, we were to understand that God was for all and all should be praising Him.

Are you prepared to extol God? Will you give high praise to and glorify God? Are you a part of the all that extol God?

“¹I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. ²Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.” – Psalm 145:1-2 (ESV)

It is pretty clear that David had high praise and glorified God at every turn.

Are we? What in our lives is preventing us from extolling God? Will you extol God forever?

“¹I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me. ²O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. ³O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down wot the pit.” – Psalm 30:1-3 (ESV)

God is working in our lives and we are to be lifting high praise for that work. He has delivered us with salvation and for that alone, we should be in continuous praise of Him.

When you look back, what has God done that you should extol Him for? Did you recognize then? Will you extol God for what He has done for you?

“²⁴Remember to extol his work, of which men have sung.” – Job 36:24 (ESV)

Extol: “to praise highly: GLORIFY” – Merriam-Webster Online

How often do we find ourselves learning new words? I have seen and read the word extol of course in my study of God’s Word, but have not really looked to learn the word. To praise highly is bigger than I thought before.

God does work each day in our lives. He is doing for us all the time. He is greater than we can even imagine.

“²⁶Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable.” – Job 36:26 (ESV)

I can continue each day working to get to know Him, but will continuously fall short of understanding. But I must continue to learn of my God and press for more and more understanding so that I can truly extol Him.

Where are you in your understanding of God? Are you continuing to work on it? Are you looking each day to extol the work of God?

“¹⁰For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.” – Hebrews 6:10 (ESV)

The work we do for God certainly does not go unnoticed. I struggle with this one each day. Here in the world, I feel like I am doing the work of God to the best I know how. I demonstrate love, and have a vision and values that are centered on the work of God.

Do I miss the mark? OH YES, every day! Do I struggle? OH YES, every day!

What Now?

Based on God’s Word, I have to keep on keeping on. God knows the work we do. No one else may notice, but God does and in Him is where we should be concerned. We have to hang our hat on the promises of God and not on those of man. Striving to continue doing His work and not our own.

“¹¹And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, ¹²so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” – Hebrews 6:11-12 (ESV)

Where is your focus? What prize are you looking at? Who is most important for you to make an impression on? Are you aware and leaning on that God knows the work you do?

“¹⁶All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” – 2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV)

The first seven (7) words are the ones that grabbed me this morning, “All Scripture is breathed out by God”. Not just a few well know passages that are popular, but “All Scripture”.

I believe that too often we spend our time reading and re-reading the passages we know, or have heard, or someone has told us about. Why will we not find out for ourselves and do our own due diligence to study the Word of God?

We should be immersed in the Word of God to get and understand the teachings of God. The send part of the verse above indicates that God’s Word is for “teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness”. Each of those require work and I am sure that most of us have heard the phrase “anything worth having is worth working for”.

When we work for something that something is satisfying and brings more than just knowledge. We have gained experience and understanding that we can now pass on to others.

“¹⁷that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:17 (ESV)

We gain from the Word of God that we may pass that gain on in our work for God. We get to use the knowledge, understanding, and experience we obtained through our study of God’s Word to enhance the lives, knowledge, understanding, and experience of those around us.

What time are you spending with God’s Word? Are you sticking to the familiar, or getting into the parts you have not explored before? Are you allowing “All Scripture” to inspire and drive your work for God?

“¹⁵So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. ¹⁶Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, ¹⁷comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” – 2 Thessalonians 2:15-17 (ESV)

Paul reminds us here that we have everything we need as Christians. We have all the teachings, love, grace, and hope from Jesus and God. We are to take comfort and establish our hearts with those and do the work of God.

We are going to have adversity and our job is to “stand firm” and do the work. Stay true to the teachings of God and know the work for Christ is the important work and everything else is cursory and of much lessor value. The value of the work put on by others is not important. When we are doing the work of God, our value is in him, “who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace.”

When you are doing the work of Christ, are you looking around at what others see or think? Are you just doing the work of God? Are you standing firm in that work?

“¹³And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.” – 1 Thessalonians 2:13 (ESV)

These words of Paul to the church at Thessalonica are true even today. We have heard the Word of God and we have the chance to accept it either as words of the men saying them or as the Word of God being spread by man. God’s Word does not get to us generally on its own.

I know someone that was not following the Word of God and in fact could not, until someone exclaimed the love of Christ to them. Once that love was shared, they were able to read the Word of God and has been living them ever since.

Once we have been given the Word of God it should be difficult to put down. And because of our dedication to the Word, we will continue with the work of God in obedience to God.

When you are in the Word of God, are you able to put it down? Are you able to use the Word of God in your work? Is the Word of God continually at work in you?