We have been created in Christ Jesus for good works (Eph. 2: 10). We are also exhorted to pay diligent attention to good works (Tit. 3: 8, 14), to bear fruit in them (Col. 1: 10), to be prepared or ready for every good work (2 Tim. 2: 21, Tit. 3: 1), to be rich in them (1 Tim. 6: 18), to be established in them (2 Thess. 2: 17), to be zealous in them (Tit. 2: 14), to abound to them (2 Cor. 9: 8), and to provoke one another to them (Heb. 10: 24). Now dear reader, what do we really know of all this?
There is one thing we must be very clear about and it is this: because we have got salvation without working, we are not to lead idle lives ever afterwards, put to shame by earnest (though deluded) souls who are trying to win heaven by their good works. On the contrary every Christian has his work to do in this world for Christ. We are left here for that very purpose.
Do you know your work? Or is it possible that having been a Christian one year, two years, ten years or even more, that you are still unable to form any clear answer to such a question? Now the night is indeed far spent, but it is not yet gone. Let us then, who are not of the night, but of the day, wake up and cease to slumber in our privileges and begin our long–neglected work at once!
‘So what is my work?’ you ask. That is a sad question for any of us to have to ask if we have been Christians for any length of time. However, if sincerely asked of God, even though so late, it will surely be answered. It is certainly a most important question, for we are all members of Christ’s body, and the hand cannot do the seeing, nor the eye the walking, nor the feet the talking. The Head alone can rightly set each part of the body in its appointed work.
Perhaps you are doing nothing for Christ. I am sure many of us are quite unaware of the selfish and idle lives we often lead. We have got so used to thinking that if we avoid gross sins and if we are regular in our reading and prayer, and in our attendance at meetings and services, then we have done all that is required of us. Many of us would be surprised to hear that we are not quite so satisfactory in the Lord’s eyes as in our own, and would be shocked to be told that for years we have been utterly neglecting the Lord’s work––our work for Him.
How then am I to know what my work is? The only way is to find out what gift or gifts the Lord has given you, and what sphere He has given you to use them in. If the Lord sees you humbly taking up what is nearest your hand in dependence upon Him, He will surely show you if He would have you continue in it - or, if not, He will lead you into what He has ready for you. If there is a desire to practise His will (see John 7: 17), then God will answer that desire. Of course the motive and mainspring that produces the zeal and activity must be Christ. If this is not the case then while the work may be useful and highly praised of men, we shall get no reward, and our work shall lose its character of a sweet smelling savour to the Lord. It is the fragrance of Christ's name that gives the value to all that we do in God's sight. Busybodies are no more use to God than the idle, and often more injurious to others.
Many feel useless in this world of woe and need. They ought not to. There is a work suited to each and there is a work suited to you. The time is short and much has been wasted by all of us. Before the Lord's return then, let each of us be found working at our post for Christ.
