Faith, Worked Out
Exodus 37:1a &10a & 17a & 25a & 29
Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood. … He also made the table of acacia wood. … He also made the lampstand of pure gold. … He made the altar of incense of acacia wood. … He made the holy anointing oil also, and the pure fragrant incense, blended as by the perfumer.
Exodus 37 chronicles the unprecedented work that Bezalel completes and supervises and administers, work that deserves the highest display in heaven’s echelon of marvels, yet the most exceptional aspect of this extravagant production is not that Bezalel achieved so much on his own, but that he performed his tasks exactly as God had prescribed. “Not my will but Yours be done,” said our Lord in His darkest hour. “He must increase and I must decrease,” said John the Baptizer to his disciples. There’s a simple formula for being remarkable in God’s eyes, and it’s this: work out God’s unique blueprint for your life with no additions and no subtractions—that’s it!
Imagine what the world would look like today if all eight billion of us (excluding infants and those with mental disabilities), from the time we wake up to the time we pillow our heads, lived with singular focus. Imagine if every wife and mother, even when feeling taken for granted, honored her husband and laid down her own career for her children; if every husband and father, even when feeling burdened and worn out, loved his wife and took it upon himself to exemplify the Father’s heart to his kids; if all the unmarried adults, even when feeling lonely and purposeless, devoted themselves wholly to God’s work; if every middle-schooler and high-schooler and college student, even when disagreeing with parental instructions, obeyed their parents deferentially; if every king on earth had a staff rather than a scepter and every CEO carried a towel rather than a yolk and if every president and congressional representative and judge never needed to swear on the Bible because their lives were always lived under oath! Then the meek would inherit the earth and the mourners would be comforted and the least among men would be recognized as the greatest.
Alter God’s blueprints for your life and you’ll make a mess of it before long. Work out God’s blueprints for your life and it’ll be a masterpiece by the end.