WORK FOR THE LORD

WORK FOR THE LORD

As to work for the Lord, the simple inquiry for us is that which is recorded as the first utterance of Paul to our Lord, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” (Acts 9: 6). That is the duty and expression of every one who is distinctly awakened to the claim that Christ has on him. He feels ‘I am taken out of the world, and I am given to Christ, and hence I look to Him for my place and occupation in it.’ If we are given to Christ out of the world, it is evident that it is He alone who has right to determine our way and course in the world.

If I believe that I am given to Him out of the world, I have no right to re-occupy any place or position which I had previously held in the world. True, He does not require or permit me to infringe on any legal lord under whom I was held before I was given to Him; vested legal rights are not to be compromised because of my being given to Christ, but I am Christ’s bondsman, and if I am, both from duty and inclination, my inquiry must necessarily be, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” The more I own and realise the relationship which now exists through grace between Him and me, the more simply and continuously will this be my wholehearted cry to Him. Now, if it be so, I shall, of course, accede to and attend to whatever He may intimate to me, and this only. That is, the heart devoted to Him, and truly making this request, will wait on Him for guidance and counsel, and will find no real satisfaction in being anywhere or doing anything which is not according to His mind; our place and our occupation here would thus be wholly determined by the pleasure of Him whose we are and whom we serve.

^[p. 224] Nothing is so simple and nothing so important in my walk down here as that I belong to Christ, and I find it my happiness and His pleasure to do nothing but as He desires and instructs me. I live where He likes, and I do what He likes. If we did this there would be no mistakes on one side or on the other. But we do make mistakes on both sides; on one side at one time, and on another side at another time. At one time we plan out work for ourselves, and at another we do none. Now the first defect is the most difficult to deal with, simply because the counterfeit deceives one, and hence, while it is comparatively easy to convict the idle and slothful, it is not so easy to convict the active Martha that she is unwisely occupied. The work seems so right and so necessary, that it appears almost impossible that there could be any plan in it. Nothing so deceives and leads astray as the conscience working at a distance from Christ; for instance, if I feel in my conscience that I ought to be Christ’s servant (true enough, I am His bondsman), but if I am not near Him, if I am not in His confidence, I may begin to do something to satisfy my conscience, and if so I do it legally, and not as what simply suits Him. I do it to make my conscience easy and satisfied. When this is the case I do not consult what He would like me to do, but I do what I think best to be done. It is not His pleasure that guides me, it is my own mind, as to what is suitable and proper. It may be quite a necessary service as Martha’s was, but Martha was evidently thinking of the services which were incumbent on her to render, and was not governed by the pleasure of Christ.

Here is where we fail — undertaking to serve where it is in a degree creditable to ourselves, and we thus get disappointed (if we are true-hearted) because we have not the acknowledgment of His pleasure. How can He acknowledge what we have undertaken and done to satisfy our own conscience and what we ourselves judge to be suitable? It is evident when I am occupied with services, however useful and necessary, which I have undertaken of myself, feeling that they devolve upon me, that I must lose the sense of His presence. I am not sitting at His feet, Mary-like. There is no growth in Christ. Self is in ^[p. 225] the service. It is most blessed to work for Christ, but if my work engrosses me more than Christ there is damage to me, and I am not really working for Him: “Without me ye can do nothing” (John 15: 5). If I am truly working for Christ, I am drawing from Christ, and growing up unto Him. Sitting at His feet is the natural posture of my soul. Whenever you find one serving without sitting at His feet, you may be assured that he is Martha-like. When one is sitting at His feet, hearing His word, he will not be behind in true service — pleasing to Him. If you begin with serving (as many do nowadays), you will never sit at His feet, whereas if you begin with sitting at His feet, you will soon serve well, wisely and acceptably. When the serving quiets the conscience, and the sitting is overlooked and neglected, the enemy gains an advantage, for it is at the sitting that the conscience is enlightened, and the pleasure and mind of the Master become better known.

I never met with any one making his service prominent who knew what it was to sit at the Master’s feet; but, thank God, I know indefatigable workers who enjoy sitting at His feet above any service, and it is clear that those who sit most at His feet must be most competent to serve, and most in His confidence, which, after all, is the clue to all efficient service.