How do I live this day in such a way that when I stand before the Lord for my life review, I will be delighted for him to see how I lived it? What will I want him to see that I did with my thoughts and words, my eyes, hands, and feet? What primary motivation will I want him to bring to the surface that was behind it all?
I will want him to see me faithfully fulfilling my life’s greatest responsibility.
What is my life’s greatest responsibility?
maintaining OCMH = Optimum Conditions for Maximum Helpfulness
What is maximum helpfulness?
It is when what you think, say, or do, directly or indirectly helps others realize something more of God’s love for them and/or helps them take a step in his direction.
We maintain the conditions, Jesus guides and makes us helpful. So what are the optimum conditions?
- personal worship — praise, thanksgiving, rejoicing in the Lord
- prayer — family and friends we pray for daily and weekly and prayers we pray on the go
- Bible reading and reflection — even if it is just a few verses a day that we then reflect on
- corporate worship — gathering with God’s people for worship
- corporate fellowship — being together to think with fellow believers about the kinds of things that strengthen, encourage, comfort, instruct, and help us persevere in our loyalty to Jesus
- sharing God’s blessings of time and resources — “Lord, show me how to be a cheerful and generous giver.” “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”2 Corinthians 9:6
- practicing a weekly day of rest — The principle of one day each week set aside from our hectic lives to worship God and rest is for our benefit. The busier we are, the more we honor someone when we give him our time. If Jesus appeared bodily to you and said, “I would like to spend the day with you and give you a special blessing,” would you say, “I’d really like to, Lord, but my day is full!” Every Sunday [or whichever day of the week you are free to set aside for him] the Lord is saying, ‘I want to spend this day with you and bless you. Will you set this day apart for Me?’” (Steven J. Cole, Bible.org)
What happens if you maintain those conditions?
The Holy Spirit works through them to keep your heart sensitive to Jesus, to what he needs from you at any given moment of the day in working with him. And to act on his guidance means we’ll unfailingly walk in maximum helpfulness.
