Everyone's Responsibility
We are called to live a life of pleasing God, not just in grand acts of service, but in the everyday tasks and duties of our daily lives.
Mary Wilder Tileston emphasizes the importance of living a life hidden in Christ, focusing on the love that the Lord seeks within our deeds rather than just the outward appearance. She highlights the duty for all, regardless of status or circumstances, to exhibit compassion, kindness, humility, patience, forgiveness, and to seek to please God in all things. Tileston encourages believers to lead lives that are pleasing to God, reflecting His will on earth as the angels do in heaven.
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Your life is hid with Christ in God.
--COLOSSIANS 3:3
Put on therefore a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving each other; even as the Lord forgave you so also do ye.
--COLOSSIANS 3:12-13 (R. V.)
IT is not the deed we do,
Though the deed be never so fair,
But the love that the dear Lord looketh for,
Hidden with holy care
In the heart of the deed so fair.
--HARRIET MCEWEN KIMBALL
THESE are duties which belong to us alike, what.ever our outward lot be, whether rich or poor, hon.ored or despised, amid outward joys or sorrows. For as our life is hidden in Christ, so have we all an outward and an inward, a hidden life. Outwardly, we seem busied for the most part about common things, with trivial duties, worthless tasks. Inwardly we are, or ought to be, studying how, in all, to please God, walking in His sight, doing them in His Presence, seeking to know how He would have them done. So amid trivial things we may be, nay men are, in every station of life, pleasing God, that is, leading angels' lives, in that they are doing His will on earth, as the angels in heaven. They are "servants of His, doing His pleasure."
--EDWARD B. PUSEY
Sermon Outline
- Our Hidden Life in Christ
- Our Duties as Hidden Servants
- Pleasing God in Everyday Life
- We can please God in the midst of trivial duties and tasks
- By doing our work as if we were doing it in His Presence
Key Quotes
“It is not the deed we do, though the deed be never so fair, but the love that the dear Lord looketh for, hidden with holy care in the heart of the deed so fair.” — Mary Wilder Tileston
“So amid trivial things we may be, nay men are, in every station of life, pleasing God, that is, leading angels' lives, in that they are doing His will on earth, as the angels in heaven.” — Mary Wilder Tileston
Application Points
- Make a conscious effort to please God in all your daily tasks and duties.
- Seek to know God's will and follow it, even in the midst of trivial duties.
- Remember that your life is hid with Christ in God, and live accordingly.