God's Fellow Workers

Do You Worship The Work?

By: Oswald Chambers

My Utmost for His Highest

April 23 Devotional

We are God’s fellow workers . . . —1 Corinthians 3:9

Beware of any work for God that causes or allows you to avoid concentrating on Him. A great number of Christian workers worship their work. The only concern of Christian workers should be their concentration on God. This will mean that all the other boundaries of life, whether they are mental, moral, or spiritual limits, are completely free with the freedom God gives His child; that is, a worshiping child, not a wayward one. A worker who lacks this serious controlling emphasis of concentration on God is apt to become overly burdened by his work. He is a slave to his own limits, having no freedom of his body, mind, or spirit. Consequently, he becomes burned out and defeated. There is no freedom and no delight in life at all. His nerves, mind, and heart are so overwhelmed that God’s blessing cannot rest on him.

But the opposite case is equally true–once our concentration is on God, all the limits of our life are free and under the control and mastery of God alone. There is no longer any responsibility on you for the work. The only responsibility you have is to stay in living constant touch with God, and to see that you allow nothing to hinder your cooperation with Him. The freedom that comes after sanctification is the freedom of a child, and the things that used to hold your life down are gone. But be careful to remember that you have been freed for only one thing–to be absolutely devoted to your co-Worker.

We have no right to decide where we should be placed, or to have preconceived ideas as to what God is preparing us to do. God engineers everything; and wherever He places us, our one supreme goal should be to pour out our lives in wholehearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might . . .” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father,
As we go into preparations for the Sheryl WuDunn Event in September in addition to the other events and responsibilities that we have, we ask that You would keep us centered on You. Give us wisdom to know when to stop the task and take the time to focus on You. Go before us and multiply our time so that we can spend more time at Your feet. We want to be co-workers concentrating on You, not our agenda or our busyness. Help us to cooperate with You. Let us do our Women of Vision responsibilities with all of our might, yet balanced with You at the center. We give You all the praise and all the glory for the results that will come as we surrender our time and our talents to You. In Jesus Name we pray. Amen