Craig Clouston

Being Busy For Jesus!

and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work.
1Corinthians 3:13

Tom and Galinda were exhausted. Misguidedly, they believed that laboring for the Lord was meant to be that way. “After all,” Tom was fond of saying, “the Bible says, ‘each will be rewarded according to his labor’ so the more we labor, the bigger the reward!” And with that mindset they went about being busy for Jesus! They had a plan and disciplined themselves to stick to it. Their satisfaction at the end of each day began to wane but they pushed on, knowing things would get better if they just stuck to their plan. After all, Jesus expected them to stay busy … didn’t He?
After ten years of non-stop being busy for Jesus, they felt more like underappreciated and underpaid employees than servants of the King. Serving had gone from a labor of love to hard labor. They couldn’t remember the last time they’d actually enjoyed what they were doing. To the best of their recollection it had been years. And weren’t they supposed to be compensated for their labor? Hadn’t God promise them an exciting life of service with reward? This certainly wasn’t rewarding! They had even forgone having children so they could commit more time to God’s work!
Disgruntled and disillusioned, they resigned as committee heads of every group they were involved in, and left the church.

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God’s people are designed to serve Him with zeal and passion. Yet sadly, many equate busyness to quality of service. Spurred on by this mentality they set to work, not understanding that what they’re doing is not what God wants.
Failing to ask God what’s important to Him will lead to spiritual frustration and a sense of overwhelming disappointment. Many Christians live in perpetual turmoil, never understanding they are laboring in vain, and their works will be consumed by fire. They themselves will be saved, but their work will be consumed.
Being busy for Jesus isn’t God’s idea of service. If we make time each morning to ask for instruction we will remove a lot of stress from our lives, and our works will stand the fiery test.

Prayer

“Good morning, Lord. I want to do what You want me to do today. What would You have me do? Amen.”