#200 A CHARGE TO KEEP I HAVE 9-27-26
There is an old hymn that begins, “A charge to keep I have.” Those words carry the weight of a soldier receiving his orders before stepping onto the battlefield. The Christian life is not merely about being saved from something. It is about being called to something. God has entrusted each of us with a charge, a responsibility, a work that belongs to us. Paul told Timothy, “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 4:1). He then told him to “preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2). It is wonderfully serious knowing that God has placed something in your hands that you are expected to carry faithfully. You may not have someone else’s gifts, opportunities, or assignment, but you have your own charge from the Lord.
The danger is that we can become so occupied with what everyone else is doing that we neglect what God has placed before us. Jesus told Peter, after speaking about another disciple, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me” (John 21:22). That is still a needed word for us. What is someone else doing? What are they accomplishing? Why did they receive that opportunity? Why does their work seem to receive more attention? Jesus says, in effect, keep your eyes on Me and your feet on your own path of obedience. “Let each one examine his own work” (Galatians 6:4). Our assignment is not to become somebody else. It is to faithfully become the person God has called us to be. There is a charge to keep, and nobody else can carry it for us.
One day, our opportunities will end, our earthly work will be finished, and the voices of human approval will become strangely small. What will matter then is whether we were faithful to the One who gave us the charge. Paul could look back near the end of his life and say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). What a way to finish! Not that he had done everything, pleased everyone, or avoided every failure, but that he had remained faithful to Christ. So carry your charge today. Teach the word. Encourage somebody. Serve somebody. Forgive somebody. Pray. Give. Go. Love. Do the work God has placed before you. You do not have to carry the whole world on your shoulders. You simply have to be faithful with what the Master has placed in your hands. A charge to keep you have. A God to glorify. A Savior to follow. And a life to give back to Him.
BDD
