PriceWaterhouseCoopers tells us the average worker has 36 hours worth of work on their desk at any one time, and wastes up to 3 hours a week just “looking for stuff.” Ahem, I am above average! How about you? Can you find what you’re looking for on your desk?
One thing I can ALWAYS find on my desk is my coffee cup. Welcome to “Mornings with Bishop Robert” — I hope you brought yours. My goal is to introduce people to the Jesus they never knew, and help them get to know Him and His word personally – and better ! If our time together today speaks to your heart, then let me invite you to like, subscribe and share it with a friend!
Among all of the other strange days that one hears about, I’ve just found out that there is actually a “National Clean Off Your Desk Day.” Who knew?? I actually found multiple articles online about how to clean it off, organize the items you want to keep, and even giving sound reasons for doing so. Here’s one that stuck out in my mind … one writer said that your desk has about 400 times the amount of bacteria and germs as a toilet seat. Ewwww. Cleaning off your desk and organizing what you decide to keep will certainly save you time when searching for things, because 10% of all documents get lost or misfiled.
Not everything you’re looking for is on your desk. (Especially if you don’t HAVE a desk.) I’ve managed to lose tools, my phone, my car keys and lots of things that are really too valuable to be misplaced. I’ve had to ask my wife to call my phone so we could find it, and vice versa. You can put off looking for some things, searching for other things is a matter of urgency. I may put off looking for a lost screwdriver until the weekend, but if we can’t find a visiting grandchild that becomes Priority Number One!!!
Today’s verse says SEEK THE LORD WHILE HE MAY BE FOUND, CALL ON HIM WHILE HE IS NEAR
This verse goes well beyond the obvious evangelical implications. Of course you ought to be searching for God if you’ve not yet found Him and begun a relationship with Him. My entire reason for sharing these times with you is to introduce people to the Jesus they never knew, and help them get to know Him and His word personally – and better. The good thing about searching for Jesus is that He’s also searching for you, so once you start looking you find that He’s right there ready to respond.
But meeting Jesus is just the first step of a walk with Him. Seeking the Lord, drawing deeper and making our relationship stronger is an act of constant progression. Identifying the gifts He has placed within you and developing them is a process. One that requires us to get to know our Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit as well.
Many people know me only as a Bishop, so there is much about relating to me that they couldn’t understand. There are those who know me only in my secular role as a businessman, leading and growing companies through challenging times and processes. Both of those images of me are true, vital, important — and incomplete. If you want to TRULY know me, you need to have been in my home and have forged a deeper and more intimate relationship. It is true that I’m a Bishop and a businessman, but that’s not all I am. I’m a husband, a father, a neighbor and a friend. Each of us is like a diamond, with many different facets to our personality. The fullest picture allows for the greatest, deepest and most intimate relationship.
Meeting Jesus is always the place to begin. Knowing the close camaraderie of walking with Christ and developing a closer relationship with Him is vital. But Christ reveals the Father to us, and in Him we see the majesty and grandeur of the King.
The stateliness of Father is revealed in the nobility of sacramental liturgy. His glory is reflected in the robes, vestments and symbols of the priesthood; elements designed to obscure the individuality of the one serving at the altar within their regal nature. The King’s Court is always a place of specific uniforms and unique customs designed to accord honor to the Sovereign and convey His majesty. Having now passed his fourth birthday, Kate and William’s third child Prince Louis knows his grandpa quite well. I’m sure they’ve played games, read books and gone for walks. It’s all quite wonderful, of course; but someday Louis will learn that his grandfather is also the King, and that understanding will change their relationship. It won’t take anything away from it, to be sure; but it will add a great deal. In fact, much of who Louis is and the role he is called to fulfill can never even begin until he knows King Charles and not just Grandpa. Like Louis, you and I have a role in carrying out the rule and reign of our King.
Accepting power and gifts of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us and yielding to Him is no less transformational. God’s Spirit conveys a power and authority He wants us to have, but needs to train us to use properly and well.
Everyone, those who know God as well as those who do not, have innate talents and abilities. Things like leadership skills, generosity and wisdom can be used and developed in the flesh, and to remarkable levels. But the gifts and authority of the Holy Spirit convey prophetic insight, miraculous power capable of healing the sick and raising the dead and so much more. These things are beyond both our personal control and our limited comprehension. They demand that we accept and embrace both words and actions we can barely discern and hardly grasp.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are just that – HIS. And He gives them when and how He chooses, a fact that would result in confusion if not for our understanding of His majesty. Why does God do some things we wish He wouldn’t while not doing other things we are convinced He should? He seldom explains. He calls us to trust His nature, and to rely upon what we DO know from our relationship with Him so we can rest in the things we DON’T know.
SEEK THE LORD WHILE HE MAY BE FOUND, CALL ON HIM WHILE HE IS NEAR
Get rid of the clutter that stops you from getting to know God — The MAJESTY of the Father that reflects His sovereignty, the COMPASSION of the Son that reveals His heart, and the POWER of the Holy Spirit than enables our service.
Cleaning off your desk will certainly save you time when searching for things. But searching for God will save you a lot more than that.
