Have You Gotten Your Business Done?
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” — 2 Timothy 4:7 (NKJV)
My wife and I were watching an old television series that we enjoy, and one particular episode really caught my attention.
In the episode, a family was invited to attend someone else’s church. During the service, the pastor shared that a dear brother in the congregation had recently passed away. Before his passing, the pastor had visited him and asked a simple but powerful question:
“Brother Darnell, did you get your business done?”
His answer was, “I did not.”
The pastor went on to challenge the congregation to make sure that when their time came to stand before the Lord, they could say, “I got my business done.”
That question struck a nerve with the family, especially the mother, who spent the rest of the episode trying to figure out exactly what her business was.
And it got me thinking.
Have you gotten your business done? Better yet, do you even know what your business is?
Some might interpret that question as making amends with someone they’ve hurt, offering forgiveness they’ve withheld, expressing gratitude they’ve neglected, or repairing a relationship that’s been broken.
And those are certainly things we should take seriously.
But I believe there’s something much deeper here.
We often spend so much time asking God, “What is my purpose in life?” that we overlook what He is asking us to do right in front of us.
I don’t believe God necessarily gives us one single assignment in this life. I believe He places many opportunities, responsibilities, and people in our paths throughout our journey.
And as we grow closer to Christ, as our faith matures and our relationship with Him deepens, we become better prepared for the responsibilities He places before us.
Think about that for a moment.
God may be preparing you today for something you aren’t spiritually ready to handle tomorrow.
But here’s where I believe we sometimes get things backward.
Instead of waking up every morning asking, “God, what is my purpose?” perhaps we should be asking, “Lord, how can I grow closer to You today? How can I love more like Christ? How can I become more like the person You created me to be?”
Because the closer we walk with Christ, the more we begin to recognize His direction.
Jesus tells us in John 15:5 (NKJV):
“He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
Notice that Jesus doesn’t tell us to go find our fruit. He tells us to abide in Him.
The fruit comes from the relationship.
And I believe our daily assignments work much the same way.
But we have to pay attention.
Not every assignment from God comes with a thunderous voice, a burning bush, or some unmistakable sign.
Sometimes it’s a quiet prompting to call someone.
Sometimes it’s noticing the person everyone else walks past.
Sometimes it’s offering forgiveness, speaking an encouraging word, or simply sitting beside someone who needs to know they’re not alone.
And sometimes it’s something much bigger that God has been preparing us for through years of smaller acts of obedience.
We cannot become so consumed with discovering our grand purpose that we miss the opportunities God places before us today.
Our responsibility isn’t to figure out every assignment God has for our entire life. Our responsibility is to remain close enough to Him to recognize and obey the assignment He has for us today.
And there’s one more thing we must remember.
We don’t earn our way into heaven by getting our business done. Salvation is a gift of God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not a reward for completing a checklist of good deeds.
But because we have been saved by grace, we should desire to live a life that glorifies the One who saved us.
Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV) reminds us:
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
God has prepared good works for us to walk in. Our calling is to walk faithfully with Him.
So today, instead of worrying about whether you’ve discovered your life’s ultimate purpose, ask yourself:
Am I walking close enough to Christ to recognize what He’s asking of me today?
Because one day, when our race is finished, I pray we can look back, not claiming that we lived a perfect life, but knowing that we faithfully pursued the One who called us.
And perhaps, by His grace, we too can say:
“Lord, I got my business done.”
— Rev. Carlos Figueroa
TheFreeBible.org
