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Christian Network

It is not unusual to hear believers exhorting one another to serve God. In our Evangelical subculture there is never a shortage of voices telling us to work for our Creator and Lord. In some churches today an outsider might come away with the impression that working for God is the highest good possible for human beings and the essence of true faith, but such an impression is at best incomplete for there is a higher calling for the Christian.

An appropriate caveat must be made before we travel further down this line of thought. Serving Jesus Christ with right motivation is truly a wonderful thing and an incredible privilege. It is also a mandate from our Father. One of the reasons we were created was to act as servants of the most high God. We are not living in His will if we are idle, "unprofitable" workers in the spiritual and physical vineyards God has left us to tend until His Son returns. That said we must still address an imbalance in much of the contemporary church between doing and being. Yes, believers have a high calling to do the work of the Lord, however the cart should not be put before the proverbial horse. Our highest calling is not working for God but knowing Him.

At times teachers and preachers in the Western church seem to have missed the meaning of the story of Mary and Martha. When Mary did nothing but sit at the feet of Jesus we are told she was being more obedient to God than her apparently virtuous, hard working sister. His approval of a woman who simply sat before Him, drinking in both His presence and His wisdom, is instructive. Perhaps Martha was sincerely trying to serve Jesus in her busyness. She certainly felt she was being more "spiritual" then her sister in doing so. But when she tried pressing the point with her Lord and criticized her sister she received a rebuke, albeit a light and loving one. Jesus was more concerned about Martha knowing Him than her working for Him.

God’s greatest purpose in creating the human race was to give us the opportunity to be in intimate contact with Him. Relationship is bound up in the very nature of God. Within the Godhead the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit exist in perfect relationship with one another. When we were created we were designed to live in deep communion with the One who created us. Deep calls to deep between our Lord and ourselves because we were made for Him, to be with Him in the deepest, most profound way possible. To know God, and enjoy Him forever, is our highest calling as Christians. It is the primary reason we exist and it is the font of our greatest joy.

When we come to know and love Jesus Christ we then naturally want to do His will on Earth. All true servanthood flows out of a pre-existing love relationship with the One who loved us first. Such love is the right motivation for any labor we do in His name. The authenticity and effectiveness of our work in the Kingdom is proportional to how close our communion is with its King. Our best labor in life is a labor of love.