My faith has been strengthened beyond my imagination over the past two years, but if I neglect that faith and fail to nurture it I am no better off than I was two years ago. When God removes distractions (which for me included my previous job, environment, and way of thinking and living), you can't help but put every ounce of trust in Him or deny His sovereignty. There is an investment that takes place when you truly rely on God for your daily bread. His word becomes that much more vibrant and real, almost three dimensional.
I do my very best to keep a healthy, humble perspective on where I am in my walk with Christ and how I relate with others. Lately, I have not done the best job of maintaining that perspective, and it has played out in several instances over the past couple of weeks. The subtlety of sin and pride is quite dangerous and costly. I need to remember God's faithfulness, trustworthiness and His promises to combat my selfishness, sometimes by the minute. Jesus' example - a completely blameless man being punished for my sin - should shake us all to the core. He is the only one who could have taken that on - not only because He is God's son, but because no other man in history would stay silent in that situation. No other man would have the fortitude to completely disregard their sense of injustice for the good of another. Jesus did that and much more than I will ever understand.
I often tell people I love my job, what I get to do and where I get to work and serve, but I rarely say why. Yes, it is because I have a passion for creative work, but it goes far deeper than that. What I do reminds me of an answered prayer that I began to pray years ago. "God, use me to reach those far from you."
My motivation to do everything I do is and must remain that of helping people see how God has changed my life radically for His good and glory - and to serve as a beacon of hope and a reminder to those far away from Him that God will never give up on reaching them. The fact that I am able to do that through creating videos and leading worship far outweighs any material reward. I pray that one day my life will serve as a reminder to someone that God is everything they need.
