God has not called us to a social club, but to work! We are not called to be independent, but to be part of the one body. We have a common work to do, a spiritual Work, as Christ says in John 6:27: “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”
This Work consists of believing in Christ, doing the things He said, fulfilling the commission He gave us.
The world engages in works that will pass away. Many succeed in this world, but what they have accumulated will be destroyed. They are not called to do God’s Work.
But you and I are called to do God’s Work. Our work will never pass away. We can help others to recognize God’s Ways. We can help others to change their lives through repentance and obedience to God. This kind of work bears fruit that will never pass away.
We must work now, because our work here will soon come to an end. There is a Work to be completed now. Let us not neglect this Work and think we can leave it to others.
We read that one of God’s servants in the time of the apostles was sick and close to death because of the Work of Christ (Philippians 2:25-30).
Christ showed us by example what we should do. At the age of 12, He told His parents that He had to be about His Father’s business (Luke 2:49).
He had a Work to do, and He got it done. He came to do the Will of God who sent Him, and to finish His Work (John 4:34).
Today, He is still working through us. The harvest is now ripe. We read in John 4:35, “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!”
And yet sometimes we may want to say: “I will do my part later. I will work next year or in a few months.”
Christ told us not to delay our duties. God wants us to do the Work He has given us now, so that we can all rejoice together, as it says in verse 36: “And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.”
Are we really doing our part? Are we faithful in what God has called us to do? Are we faithful in prayer? Are we an example and a light to others?
We should completely and unequivocally surrender our lives to God, without attaching any conditions. Let us be willing to serve God, even if it is only a small task that He entrusts to us. Let us encourage others to walk in God’s ways.
Let us prepare ourselves for the days ahead and work on ourselves to remove the blemishes, the old leaven from our homes and from our bodies.
1 Corinthians 5:7: “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.”
Initial translation from German: Damiel Blasinger