I have the tendency to handle the Lord’s work like a battery powered car with one speed. When the switch gets turned on I zoom ahead bashing into walls, doors, and barriers of every kind until, in exhaustion, I begin to run out of power. Battered and bruised, frustrated and confused, the Lord picks humbled me up and instructionally begins giving my workings a remake. With a fresh understanding, and a new coat of paint, I take off again –this time, I tell myself, in the right direction. But once again, my Maker has to take me back to His workshop.
1. Surrender: Exchange Your Ideas for His
At an early age the Lord put the passion in my heart for His work. But over time, when things didn’t seem to be progressing as I thought they should, I became frustrated and eventually a little disillusioned. For a period I nearly all but forgot about this call and became distracted as I focused on growing a business, as well as other aspects of life. However, unhappiness and a conviction that I was not doing God’s best, gradually drove me to reconsider my future and God faithfully reminded me of, and renewed my passion for, living a life devoted to His service. (See posts From Business Blogger to Christian Blogger — My Story and Troas: {Def.} “When God Says Wait” for more on that step in my life.)
a. Surrender to His Timing
With a new sense of purpose I was charged and ready to get to work. I had a few ideas of what that should look like so I began praying toward these avenues until I had myself practically convinced this was how God wanted me to serve Him. And yet doors weren’t seeming to open and I found myself back at the Lord’s feet asking if I had misread Him. Oh the Lord is patient and faithful! For then am I humbled and empty of my own ideas and that is when my Father graciously begins to show me more of His plan. He has to remind me that, even when I am on the right track and my desires are aligned with His, He is still in charge of the controls. He reserves the right to say go when He is ready. All that I have really done is placed myself in His hands to do with as He pleases. I must then patiently await His leading, what Amy Carmichael calls His “marching orders.” This is the only way our lives will be truly put to its best.
b. Surrender to His Ways
I’ve had to realize time and again the truth of Isaiah 55:8-9, that my ways are not His ways because His ways are far greater than mine. Romans 11:33 says, “How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord?’” The purpose of which is that in all things He may have first place (Colossians 1:18).
At these times we must simply say, “Yes, Lord, I am ready and willing for whatever You have for me.”
c. Surrender to Ridicule
I’ve learned that, when we surrender our lives to God’s service, we have to 1) put away our own ideas of what His will looks like, and then 2) put away others ideas, which means we can expect to be misunderstood and ridiculed. This is something I’ve been personally grappling with. Psalm 119:23-24 says,
“Princes also sit and speak against me, but Your servant meditates on Your statutes. Your testimonies also are my delight and my counselors.”
Take it from the Psalms. When ridicule comes, go back to God and His word. Meditate on His statutes, delight in His testimonies, and let them counsel you. Remember, we must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29). Let your love for God replace your fear of ridicule.
2. Be Faithful Now
One thing I have noticed in myself is that I always have noble ideas of what it might mean to serve God but I forget those perhaps commonplace things I have to do now. For instance, the faithful stewardship of this blog. In this day and age, internet ministry has become more and more an optimal way to share the gospel than ever before.
If we’re in tune with God we will want the best He has for us. Right now I know He wants me to be faithful with what He has given me. Though I may be telling Him I am able to handle five talents, He is patiently closing my hand over two. My job, and yours, is to be faithful right now with what He has already charged us with.
3. Build with the Best
1 Corinthians 3:9-15 uses the idea of construction work to discuss Christian service. For Paul, the church was the construction work and he was the master builder, with the gospel of Jesus Christ as the foundation upon which he was building. Since each of us are a part of the body of Christ, the Church, we also have a responsibility to join Paul in Christian service, or what I prefer to say for a more practical perspective, God’s work. In 1 Corinthians 15:58 Paul tells the Corinthian believers, “be… always abounding in the work of the Lord.”
The manner in which we build depends on our level of conviction to be faithful. Verses 12-13 says,
“Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.”
Do you see the list of options? Gold, silver, precious stones, and then wood, hay, and straw, the latter three inconsumable by fire and the former three consumable to varying degrees.
She Chose Gold
In her book, A Chance to Die: the Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael, Elisabeth Elliot told the story of a monumental moment in Amy’s life which at a young age determined her future. She and her family, dressed in their Sunday best, were leaving church with many others when they noticed a poor, old woman struggling under a heavy burden. Amy and her brothers quickly hurried to help the woman but their faces burned in shame at the obvious stares of the respectable crowd. It was then that Amy heard an unknown voice quoting 1 Corinthians 3:12-14, and it was then that she resolved “to build in materials indestructible.”
What she chose was a life of gold with stares of bewilderment from the public, instead of a life of straw with the comfort of now and all of its temporary approving faces.
How Do We Choose Gold?
The Lord bringing this passage to me at the time He did prompted me to dig in deeper. I found myself asking, what does it mean to choose gold?
Amy’s words were spot on — build with the best materials, materials that are indestructible. As Scripture says, our work will be tried in the Day of Judgment. How do we know our work will withstand God’s trying fire? Simply by finding out what it is He considers good work, and doing that which aligns with God’s Word.
Finding Good Work
Matthew 25:31-46 shows God sitting on the throne that day and dividing the people into two groups. The faithful (called “sheep” here) on one side and the unfaithful (called “goats”) on the other. He praises the faithful for how they readily sought to minister to all those in need: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned. Readily they ministered, with open arms, to help where they could. Ready and eager! At that day the King will say to them, “You ministered to those in your capacity to minister as though you were ministering to Me – You have succeeded in the mission I have given you.”
Unfortunately, to the unfaithful he says the exact opposite. They were not faithful, therefore they did not accomplish the mission He had given them to do. Their fate will be tragic.
So how then do we choose to build in gold? By choosing and committing to a life of that which God considers best. It means faithfully committing to minister to the needs before us as though they were to God Himself. It is what we were created for (Ephesians 2:10).
4. Get to Work
David’s advice for Solomon in regard to building the house of God can also be God’s advice for us. To paraphrase it, he says, “It’s all here and prepared for you so get to work! Don’t hesitate but start immediately.” (See 1 Chronicles 22:11-16).
This recalls to mind a devotional I read some time ago in the Institute for Creation Research’s devotional, Days of Praise. The title was “U.S.E. Your Faith” where the acronym stood for, Use what you have, Start doing it, and Expect it to happen.
Time is running out to get the good news to the lost. We must commit to be faithful, and then get to work. If you’re a Christian, that means you.
If you’re not, then I hope you will carefully consider the importance of surrendering your life to your Creator and Savior before it is too late. He’s ready and waiting with open arms to receive ALL who come to Him!
“Arise and begin working, and the Lord be with you” (1 Chronicles 22:16).
A Bold and Daring Spirit 