Week 17: Day 1

Intro: Hello and welcome to Orbit, a short reflection to help you put God at the centre of your life from the team behind Satellites - I'm Lucy Rae.

Bible: Today's reading comes from Colossians 3:23-24.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Thoughts: Zooming out again before we approach these verses let’s remind ourselves that Paul is writing this in a very different culture to the one we live in.
When we approach a letter like this a few different worlds are colliding. We have the word of the text, what we are actually reading in the Bible, what it says literally. We also have the world behind the text - the context of the text, what I like to call the “previously on Home and Away”.

This is where we understand the world this segment is being written into - Paul is writing this from prison and is writing to a church in Colossae and to encourage them and to challenge them. Finally the world in front of the text which is us. Read it here today on Instagram wherever you’re watching from in 2022. And it is good to be aware that all of these worlds are colliding - knowing the world behind it and the way that applies to us today.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Just like those people thousands of years ago in that city - we too need to be reminded that we are working for and serving Jesus. Jesus who gave his all - we get to join with his working in this world following him to bring renewal and good news. One of my favourite verses summarises this in the Message version - Matthew 11.28. Walk with me, work with me, watch how i do it - learn the unforced rhythms of grace.

I went to drama school and trained as an actor many years ago. I loved my time there but the industry was super competitive and a large amount of the time there I craved the attention of the tutors, my peers and sought affirmation from others. Feedback was negative a lot of the time because the directors would counter it as “you need to get used to this because this is what the industry is like”. Comments about work, appearance, emotional health always being called into account.

This led me down a pretty negative mindset - I strived for the opinion and thoughts of others forgetting that I carried the presence of God with me daily. That he brought perspective and purpose to my days. It wasn’t super easy to do BUT it stemmed from a pretty simple task that my friend Catherine recommended.

Action: She asked me - "who drives your bus?“ Picture your brain as a bus and that bus has all the voices you hear on it. It’ll have your parents or guardian on it, your best friend, your favourite teacher, your least favourite teacher, your music on it, your thoughts, God’s voice on it. It is totally normal to have all of those things on it. Then ask yourself the question: who is it who is driving the bus?

For me - so often I have my boyfriend driving my bus. His thoughts on if I said something stupid, whether he actually WANTS to go and see J-Lo’s new film, does he like my new shoes? But as MUCH as he is wonderful, I value his opinion. He shouldn’t be the bus driver.

I often have to put Jesus back into the driving seat. He is the person who tells me my worth, he is the person I walk with daily, who renews my mind and is renewing this world. Maybe take some time now to think through who is on your bus - who are the loudest voices, who is driving and who actually should be driving. I’m going to pray now as we ask holy spirit to be working in us as we work with you father.

Outro: That's it for today's Orbit. Thanks so much for joining us - we'll be back with another reflection tomorrow.