What will we be doing forever?
God tells us in His last chapter of the book of Revelation.
Rev 22:3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.
A guest pastor shared with our church the other night that this now is his favorite verse. Some Bibles translate the Greek term latreuo as worship. However it is equally rendered : “to serve or minister to”
If our job in the new heavens & earth is to serve God, then what is our purpose here on this present earth, in this present time?
Training for the future!
God wakens us to hear His call, to turn from a life set on self-fulfillment, to come to Him to fulfill HIS purposes for us while on earth as well as later – as forgiven and beloved sons and daughters. living forever with Him.
But citizenship in this Kingdom has no room for idle adopted children. Rather we are brought into the Royal Family as heirs needing to be trained, needing a complete re-orientation. Our holy work-study program is an intentional discipling and training regime. God envisions and equips us to be happy ambassadors of His Good News. As heralds who go about their normal lives proclaiming Truth in the darkness, we invite others to ‘taste and see’ that our King is a good Father.
Recently, awareness of this ‘other’ function/purpose of my life dropped deeper into my heart. I’ve acknowledged for several years my so-called ‘diplomatic’ role as one of Christ’s representatives, whether in my work-a-day life or running errands or hanging out with friends and family. But not until we moved here to Western North Carolina, to a new school for me where I experienced pain, disappointment and some spiritual attack did my framework shift and settle into a new position.
What I’m realizing is this:
- that it actually doesn’t matter WHAT I do, WHERE I work, or how painful/pleasant the circumstances.
- that my call, my mandate from God is to love Him and love my neighbor where I am.
And how do we love God? By believing Him, by relying 100% on Him, by treasuring Him above any of the good gifts He gives. How do we love our neighbor? By serving him well.
The sermon linked below reinforced and completed my shift in thinking. The pastor, Ray Cortese, stressed that being competent in our work is a way to love and serve our neighbor. We all want a competent and cheerful mechanic, computer repair guy, surgeon, hairdresser, waiter, sales clerk. And we owe Martin Luther a round of applause for dignifying ALL work done IN God’s strength and FOR His glory.
As Malcolm Muggeridge stated so exuberantly: ‘the happiest person in the world is the woman who sweeps out her house to the glory of God.’
I see a two-fold divine standard to how we should work, whether on-the-job, or in the kitchen:
- Develop competence and strive for excellence in all we do – not to justify ourselves, but to please our neighbor AND God
- Work with joy, in dependence on God – not for our Glory, but for His
Listen to Ray Cortese, PCA pastor in Georgia, teach the biblical view of work. The link below is to all the sermons in 2015 so far. Scroll down to the one 1 Feb 2015 – Love Thy Neighbor – work
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