Extra Work

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

“What God wants done clashes with what I want to do for Him.”
         Brennan Manning – The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus

    Noble as it sounds, often what we want to do for God is not what He is asking us to do. I have my list of virtuous offerings for God that would look good to the human eye. Yet my virtuous offerings have to do with me and how I want to serve (even if they are self-sacrificial and honorable) rather than how God is calling me. For some reason I think I know myself better and know what I best have to offer. If I would allow God, He will show me deeper parts of me and greater works than I could ever dream of. And here’s the kicker – His call would become exactly what I want to do and what God wants and what I want will slowly align.

    To discern what God wants means that I actually take the time to listen to God. I need to take the time to hear from God in prayer. This means I need to shut up. Yes, prayer includes talking to God and it also includes listening to God.

    Do you know what works God is calling you to? Are there “extras” that you have added? 
    Will you sit and listen today?

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

Surrender

**Sit quietly, eyes closed, for one minute before reading.**

“One of the greatest paradoxes of the Gospel [of Christ] is that surrender is victory.”

                      - Brennan Manning – “The Relentless Tenderness of God”

    Surrender. Let go. At times the word surrender seems like a curse word. I do not like it and I often "surrender" begrudgingly.
    Well, fortunately for you and me, God is in the business of taking our hands off of things that we are grasping onto too tightly. For some of us it is our pride. For some of us it is our personal ambition. For some of us it is a lie that we have believed for too long.
    Surrender. The great paradox of surrender is that it leads to victory. Counter-intuitive, right?
    What is God calling you to give up to Him? How is He calling you to victory? Surrender and wait for the unfathomable victory of following Christ.

**Sit again in quiet for as long as is available to you.**

Last Place

**Sit quietly for one minute before beginning to read.**

“If I follow the counsel of Jesus and take the last place, I won’t be shocked when others put me there too.”
                                              - Brennan Manning in The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus

    Last place. Ouch. I don’t like it and more likely than not, neither do you. First place I love, being the first in line, the winner. Those are the places that I want to take. Last place not so much. Yet that is what we are called to. Jesus calls us to last place. When I truly consider this call I come face to face with my sense of entitlement and face to face with the fact that I really do not want to follow Jesus where He wants to lead. I do not want to follow Him into last place. Yet He continually calls us into last place.
    Not only does He call us to last place, last place is a reality in life. We will be last in many ways and at many times. We will be last because someone else is better or someone else has the favor of those in charge or because of an injustice (this is true for so many in the world). We cannot always be first and honestly, that’s probably a good thing, at least for me.
    As we follow Jesus into last place we don’t mind standing there. As we follow the humility and sacrifices of Jesus we are not hurt, do not become bitter and do not demand that people treat us a certain way. Following Jesus means that we leave our sense of entitlement and take last place. Oh how difficult this is!
    How is God calling you to last place? If you went ahead and took last place how would that transform how you see others, especially when they put you in last place?

**Sit again for as long as is available to you.**