Order
“For God is not the author of confusion.” “Let all things be done decently and in order.” I Corinthians 14:33, 40 The beginning of a new year is a time when people often make resolutions. They decide to do something they know they should be doing or perhaps to stop some bad habit. Some common resolutions are to go on a diet, or exercise more, or memorize Scripture, or be faithful in Bible study.
For many people, one favorite resolution is to get organized! They may organize their home, or the garage. Or perhaps they want to feel their time is better organized, so they get a day-timer or start some method to keep track of the things they need to do.
God is orderly and He wants us to be, too. He is not the author of confusion and He doesn’t want us to live chaotic, disorganized lives.
In our Scripture verse, Paul is writing to the Corinthian church telling them how to establish order in their church services. They had been disorderly. They spoke out during church whenever they wanted to and when they ate together, some ate like pigs while others had nothing! (I Cor 11:21)
Our God is a God of order. When God created the earth, He separated day and night, the water and the dry land, and the animals each in their own habitat. He created order in the universe.
When I was in Africa, I noticed that giraffes and zebras eat from the same tree. It was never a problem because the giraffes, with their long necks, eat only the top leaves, while the zebras eat the bottom leaves. Just think of all the care God gave creating animals that could eat from the same tree at the same time, but not get in each other’s way!
If we want to be Godly, we need to be like Him and be orderly. Now, while you are young, you are probably responsible for keeping a small part of the house in order – your room, your belongings, your clothes. God has provided them for you through your parents. You show respect and honor to both God and your parents when you take care of your things and keep them in good order.
This is good training for taking care of an entire house one day. When we are good stewards – or caretakers – of a few things, we can be trusted with more.
Orderliness is having a place for everything and everything in its place. The opposite of order is clutter and confusion. A good resolution for this new year would be to reflect God’s glory by maintaining order in our lives.
Here are some “gut-check” questions ~
Is my room orderly? My closet, my drawers, my school supplies, my toys and other belongings? Things get messy from time to time; that happens to everyone. But then we need to plan time to clean and sort and put things back in order. It will be much easier to find what we need, and we’ll be demonstrating the Godly quality of orderliness.
Copyright, 2007, Laurie Latour.
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