Early in my days in the corporate world, the first time I was given a position with my own office, I hung a sign over my desk that quoted Colossians 3:23. It said, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” It often comforted me when those I was working for were severely frustrating me and trying my patience! That passage helped re-center me and remind me of what was truly important. While that sign and office are long gone, the daily reminder that verse afforded me has stuck with me throughout my life. Recently as I was exercising, a similar thought, no doubt inspired by my recollection of that verse, occurred to me. That thought was to test all of my activity by whether or not it glorifies God. This is how we can do all things as working for the Lord. Everything we do must be for Him.
Grace and Works Revisited
I can’t seem to get away from the constant debate of whether we are saved by grace alone or works alone. As I have often commented here, I don’t believe it’s a matter of grace or works, but rather grace and works. Before you bail on me, I wholeheartedly believe and affirm that we cannot be saved by anything other than the grace of God. Without grace, there is no possible way to “work” our way into salvation. Only our faith in Jesus and the grace He extends to us can secure our future with Him. The works we do are simply proof of our love for Him. If we are sincere in our devotion to Christ, obeying His commands – doing the things He told us to do – will be a natural extension of that love.
The Law of Love
“Servant God” is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. One of the cool concepts discussed in the chapter entitled, “What is Sin?” is that of the ‘Law of Love’. It says, “Love is other centered and outward moving. The law of love is the law of giving… When the God of love created, He created all life in harmony with His own character of love. Life is constructed to exist only when operating in perfect other-centered love. All life, health, and happiness are dependent upon harmony with this law (Romans 1:20, 13:8).” What if we lived as if this is true? What if we spent our days focused on loving others rather than on ourselves? We were created to bring glory to God by displaying His love to others. This is what it looks like when life works best.
This is Not How We’re Supposed to Live
There’s something that’s been eating away at my soul. I’ve written about it in one form or the other in the past but never seem to effectively articulate it, which is a very hard thing for a writer to accept. Here it is, as simply as I can put it. We’ve got a couple generations (at least) of people who call themselves Christians but live nothing like Jesus Christ. With apologies to my international readers, I’m going to be speaking from an American perspective, because that is the only context with which I have current first-hand knowledge. My suspicion is that all Western countries suffer from the same malady of malaise. We have sworn allegiance to Jesus but live for ourselves.
Reconnect with God
In his new book, “Simplify”, Bill Hybels states that being connected to God reminds him he doesn’t “need to fulfill someone else’s agenda, because I have my hand in the hand of the one whose plans and purposes my life is all about.” It’s easy to get so caught up in the expectations of others that we become overwhelmed, over-committed, and altogether out of control. We lose sight of what matters most in life. The world we live in today is moving faster than ever before. Attention spans are almost nonexistent; patience levels are low, frustrations are high, and the result is a world spinning out of control, plummeting into an abyss of evil that is difficult for us to even comprehend. There is an answer to this madness. There is a way out of the darkness.