Do You Worship
the Work?

“We
are God’s fellow workers …” (1
Corinthians 3:9).

Beware of any work
for God that causes or allows you to avoid concentrating on Him. A great number
of Christian workers worship their work. The only concern of Christian workers
should be their concentration on God. This will mean that all the other
boundaries of life, whether they are mental, moral, or spiritual limits, are
completely free with the freedom God gives His child; that is, a worshiping
child, not a wayward one. A worker who lacks this serious controlling emphasis
of concentration on God is apt to become overly burdened by his work. He is a
slave to his own limits, having no freedom of his body, mind, or spirit.
Consequently, he becomes burned out and defeated. There is no freedom and no
delight in life at all. His nerves, mind, and heart are so overwhelmed that
God’s blessing cannot rest on him.

But
the opposite case is equally true—once our concentration is on God, all the
limits of our life are free and under the control and mastery of God alone.
There is no longer any responsibility on you for the work. The only
responsibility you have is to stay in living constant touch with God, and to see
that you allow nothing to hinder your cooperation with Him. The freedom that
comes after sanctification is the freedom of a child, and the things that used
to hold your life down are gone. But be careful to remember that you have been
freed for only one thing—to be absolutely devoted to your co-Worker.

We
have no right to decide where we should be placed, or to have preconceived ideas
as to what God is preparing us to do. God engineers everything; and wherever He
places us, our one supreme goal should be to pour out our lives in wholehearted
devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it
with your might …” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).