Many times in the recent past I've pondered all my busyness and wondered if I'm missing the boat. I'm not lazy, though sometimes I think my sense of propriety motivates me to be 'productive' when I'd rather just flop on the couch with a bag of chips and let the acid rain of television comfy-cozy my cares away. Sometimes I do.
My activities consist of many 'good' and noble pursuits. I love my wife and therefore am diligent to apply myself to domestic tasks, since I'm of the opinion that in this age these obligation are not the sole domain of the female half of the species. I apply myself diligently to my IT consulting business so that I can bring in a significant portion of the money necessary to provide for our very comfortable lifestyle. I apply myself to as many service opportunities as I can reasonably manage in order to be a conscientious member of my community. And, lastly but certainly not leastly (I know...not a word), I endeavor to serve God in the areas where I feel like I've been gifted to do so.
But there's the rub as 'they' say. How do I know I'm doing something that's part of God's agenda? How do I know that I'm not just doing my own thing and asking God to bless it? We're told in the Bible that we should do everything as 'unto the Lord' and that 'whatever [our] hand finds to do, [we] should do it with all our might'; but does that hit the mark? In Matthew 7, Jesus tells a parable about a group who are sadly found to be wanting at a point where it's too late to make amends. They were apparently engaged in very spiritual activities: prophesying, casting out demons, working miracles, etc. But it's very interesting what Jesus says to them as the reason they are about to be cast into the outer darkness: "I never knew you!". How can that be? Well, I'm not really sure, but I think the admonishment to the Laodiceans in Revelation chapter 3 sheds some light on this, but only if one takes the time to really ponder the message of this oft misinterpreted passage.
In Revelation 3, verses 14 through 22, Jesus rebukes the Laodiceans for being neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm. The common understanding of this passage is that they had become sort of 'ho-hum' about their Christianity. They were keeping up the appearances of being Christians, but in reality possessed no passion or zeal in their faith. They were just going through the motions. But this doesn't fit the context of this passage. First of all, if 'lukewarm' was an indication of a lack of enthusiasm for the things of God, why would Jesus prefer them to be cold instead of lukewarm? It doesn't make sense. The key to understanding this passage is in knowing a bit about the history and geography of Laodicea and it's citizens at that time. Without going into a lot of detail, I'll just say that it is pretty certain that Jesus was referring to the fact that they lived in an area where they were between two opposite but very desirable water sources: Hierapolis, which had renown for it's mineral hot springs and Colossi which had a source of clear, cold and refreshing water. Laodicea had an aqueduct that brought the mineral spring water to them, but by the time it reached them it was tepid. So Jesus isn't referring to their passion in serving him, but to their disconnection with his Spirit in all of their busyness, prosperity and deluded sense of self-righteousness. They were operating from their own strengths and perceived abundance of resources. It wasn't that they were dispassionate about their Christian walk. They were busy getting rich and probably engaged in all kinds of benevolence programs of which they were very proud. They were probably very excited about all of the good things they were doing and feeling like God's blessing must be really upon them. But they were disconnected from Jesus. Thus, the admonition to repent and the invitation to intimacy by opening the door and sharing a meal with Jesus.
Our relationship with Christ is more important than any 'good' thing that we could do 'for God'. Think of the story of Mary and Martha. Martha got all tweaked because Mary wasn't helping her check of all the tasks on her 'To Do' list. But Mary, rather than Martha, understood what was really important: listening to Jesus. Think of Jesus' words that "apart from me you can do nothing", and "all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God". We can only possess true love which empowers our work and causes it to bear the kind of fruit that will last if we first make room for God's love to fill us. "We love because he first loved us". As Paul points out in Romans, all my labors amount to nothing if they aren't fueled by God's love working through me. And this can only happen if I make time to draw near to Jesus by his Spirit and let him do his sanctifying work in me. I'm righteous when I let God show me my spiritual poverty and accept Jesus' blood as payment and then let God sit on the throne of my heart. I'm 'wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked' if I rely on my own strength and wisdom for serving God and on my own standard for achieving righteousness. And I run the risk of hearing Jesus say to me on that final day 'I never knew you!' God expects fruit, so I do need to be 'rich towards God'. I do need to be heeding Christ's admonishment to 'be so doing' when he returns. But I need to be 'led by His Spirit' and not just doing my own thing. I need to be allowing his light to shine in my dark heart and be 'walking in the light'. I need to open the door to my heart when I become aware that I can no longer sense the presence of God's Spirit in my life...when I'm just doing the Martha thing and neglecting the Mary thing. I need to be 'found in Him'.
Our relationship with Christ is more important than any 'good' thing that we could do 'for God'. Think of the story of Mary and Martha. Martha got all tweaked because Mary wasn't helping her check of all the tasks on her 'To Do' list. But Mary, rather than Martha, understood what was really important: listening to Jesus. Think of Jesus' words that "apart from me you can do nothing", and "all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God". We can only possess true love which empowers our work and causes it to bear the kind of fruit that will last if we first make room for God's love to fill us. "We love because he first loved us". As Paul points out in Romans, all my labors amount to nothing if they aren't fueled by God's love working through me. And this can only happen if I make time to draw near to Jesus by his Spirit and let him do his sanctifying work in me. I'm righteous when I let God show me my spiritual poverty and accept Jesus' blood as payment and then let God sit on the throne of my heart. I'm 'wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked' if I rely on my own strength and wisdom for serving God and on my own standard for achieving righteousness. And I run the risk of hearing Jesus say to me on that final day 'I never knew you!' God expects fruit, so I do need to be 'rich towards God'. I do need to be heeding Christ's admonishment to 'be so doing' when he returns. But I need to be 'led by His Spirit' and not just doing my own thing. I need to be allowing his light to shine in my dark heart and be 'walking in the light'. I need to open the door to my heart when I become aware that I can no longer sense the presence of God's Spirit in my life...when I'm just doing the Martha thing and neglecting the Mary thing. I need to be 'found in Him'.
Peace & Grace
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