The Work of God

John 5:41 "I do not receive glory from people"
John 6:27-29 " Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the son of man will give to you. For on Him God the Father has set His seal". 28 Then they said to Him, What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" 29 Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom he has sent".

Word like self starter, proactive, initiative taker and disciplined are all words that describe myself and probably many of you as that seems to be the demand of our culture if you want to thrive in America in 2010. All of those traits are admirable, but we must put a check on them when it comes to the things of God. I can not tell you how many times my pro-activeness launched and initiative without consulting God and it ends up being a burden. This gets even trickier as Church involvement gets deeper and we sign up for duties reflexively, without asking for God's lead, evaluating our giftings, calling and purpose. We can find ourselves doing our own work and you can tell when that happens because it becomes a dull burden. When it is the work of God you will have hard attacks as head winds, but you will have deep victories in communion with Christ as to His work through you.

Think about the words of Jesus above..He does not receive glory from people...our work is to believe in Him...so what does that mean? Are we supposed to sit in a corner 24/7 and praise Christ? Sounds crazy but if God calls you to then absolutely yes. he called Ezekiel to lay on His side for months. Why did he do that? To bring Glory to Himself as he worked through Ezekiel. It is the same with us. only God led actions can bring Him Glory. The spirit with us desires to plug us into the work of God as His kingdom reigns. Our human thoughts and actions produce fruitless time killers. A spirit led work fueled by the Spirit by one who is abiding in Christ produces eternal rewards from the God of the universe.

Which are you doing? Your own man made works trying in vain to bring Him Glory? Do you feel like God needs your help in bringing Himself glory so you kind of make your own plans, instead of simply being grafted into His plan and work?

We all need to be careful that our self starting understands that intense communion and praise for Christ is the work to be done. The overflow of love that arises from time with Him will be a divine work of His Kingdom.