Missionary Renegade: The Upper Room Daily Devotional from The United Methodist Church of Nashville, Tennessee, United States for Friday, 20 October 2017 "Rattling Feed Buckets" by James C. Seymour, Jr.

The Upper Room Daily Devotional from The United Methodist Church of Nashville, Tennessee, United States for Friday, 20 October 2017 "Rattling Feed Buckets" by James C. Seymour, Jr. - 1 John 3:1-3

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL FOR WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017

Thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I  have redeemed you; I have called you  by name, you are mine. (Isaiah 43:1 (NRSV))
My father worked most of his life at a racing-horse farm in upstate New York. An exercise rider and jack-of-all-trades, he had a special affinity with the horses he worked with every day. He had nicknames for them all and was always the first one into the training barn each morning. After turning on the light, he would call out the nicknames of the horses. They would whinny, snort, and rattle their feed buckets as they  recognized my father’s voice.
As Christians, we can take a lesson from those horses. Do we discern God calling out our names, or are we too involved in our own pursuits to hear God’s voice? God is calling us to respond faithfully in everything we do — even in the mundane tasks.
We cannot rattle our feed buckets like the horses did for my dad. But we can respond to our call by doing God’s work in the world.
TODAY'S PRAYER:
Creator God, may we hear your call and respond by following you every day. Amen.
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TODAY'S READING: 1 John 3:1-3
1 John 3:1 See what love the Father has lavished on us in letting us be called God’s children! For that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it has not known him. 2 Dear friends, we are God’s children now; and it has not yet been made clear what we will become. We do know that when he appears, we will be like him; because we will see him as he really is.
3 And everyone who has this hope in him continues purifying himself, since God is pure.
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