Do You Worship the Work?

Verse:

1 Corinthians 3:9

"We are God's fellow workers ..."

Lesson:

1. 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.

2. The only concern of Christian workers should be their concentration on God.

3. 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.

4. A worker who lacks this serious controlling emphasis of concentration on God is apt to become overly burdened by his work.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might ..." (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

Most Meaningful Statement :

The only concern of Christian workers should be their concentration on God.

Thoughts :

1. Sometimes in the midst of serving God, we begin to worship the work and not the Lord of the work. We must beware of any work or even service that prevents us from concentrating on God.

2. Any Christian worker who serves but does not concentrate on God is prone to becoming over burdened, burnt out. If we do this, we become slaves to our own limits. Always overwhelmed and not experiencing God's blessings.

3. Those who have God as their primary focus will be the ones that last.

4. It is interesting that the moment we concentrate on God, all the limits on our life are free. That is because our life now comes under the mastery of God alone.

5. The best thing is that we no longer have any responsibility for the work. The only responsibility we have is to stay in constant touch with God, and to see that nothing hinders our cooperation with Him.

6. Many times we ask God to place us where we would like. We also have preconceived ideas of what God is preparing us to do. Whatever or wherever He wants, He engineers. All we need to do is to pour our lives out in devotion and obedience to Him.