(no subject)
Hebrews 4:10
…for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.
Psalm 91:14-16
“Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.”
Hello everyone,
Between taking a trip to North Carolina and then going to Ocean City for two days, there was quite a bit to catch up on back at home. I feel as though I’ve been in a whirlwind of motion (this seems to be a frequent predicament for me, doesn’t it?). But as mentioned two weeks ago, there is much for me to talk about. There’s possibly more going on in my head than I even know what to do with, so hopefully I’ll get to get some thoughts out in my blog as well. God has been teaching me many things, and stretching me in many ways - and I hope you’ve been experiencing much the same, being changed and molded by our Father.
One of the ways that God has been challenging me is through my concept of work. What does it mean to be faithful to God? It’s still a question that I’m still trying to work on, wrestling with the notion while being bombarded in my thoughts about what’s bred into me by my social environment. Work, according to our culture, is a means to value and worth and rewards. I do not mean work in an occupational sense exactly. It’s more of a “I’ve given time and effort, so I should receive X, Y, and Z. I’ve done X so I should see the results of it. I do something that you think is a good thing, and so I will earn merit with you,” and so on and so forth. It’s very hard to have the work that I do (in this case, fund raising and ministry) get wrapped up into these notions, especially because they seem to be subtle or even harmless. However, it comes to a point that I’ll work hard, and because of that “hard work” I expect to see the results right away. However, they don’t always come in a time that I would expect.
Because I don’t see immediate results, I come to the questions of, “Am I doing something wrong? Am I not being faithful?” I get myself tossed into doubt, and worst of all I fumble around in worriment. While I’m sure that there are plenty of issues that I need to sort through and pray over, I realize what part of the problem is in getting anxious: my worth and value, and concept of God’s response, is too closely tied to my own efforts and how people approve of me.
People tend to get their identity and their worth out of the kind of work that they do and how well they do it. If I’m doing a good job, I can see the fruit of the labor. I feel really good about myself because other people will be proud of the effort that I’ve put into things. They say that I’m valuable to them as a worker, so therefore I am valuable as a whole person. If I mess something up or make a mistake - or even just perceive that I did - it’s all downhill from there. If I can’t see the results of what I’m doing, I must be doing it incorrectly.
Superficially we all know that the above thinking isn’t the way things work, but in the depths of our psychology that’s how we operate. We weren’t meant for that. I just got off the phone with a friend who reminded me of something that’s very important: God doesn’t ask us for results. God asks us to be obedient and faithful. We may never actually see the fruits of our labors; I recently read through Hebrews, which reminds us that “faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.” I constantly have to be told that I’m not asked for results or success, but that I entrust God with those things. His are the results and His is the success, because all of what we do and work at is meant for the glory of God, not us. Our value and worth is not measured by efforts, or really in anything that we do at all. Our value is measured by God’s covenants and promises, and nothing we do (good or bad) can change that.
I pray that each one of us would be moved and challenged by God about the ways we think about work and our own efforts, so that we can see that our worth is not found in those things but in Him. I also ask He would move us so that our work is our attempts to be faithful and obedient, and not acts that are seeking favor or merit. May the Holy Spirit continually be changing us with His great power, molding us into the likeness of Christ.
In love and in Him,
Your sister,
Yvonne
…for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.
Psalm 91:14-16
“Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.”
Hello everyone,
Between taking a trip to North Carolina and then going to Ocean City for two days, there was quite a bit to catch up on back at home. I feel as though I’ve been in a whirlwind of motion (this seems to be a frequent predicament for me, doesn’t it?). But as mentioned two weeks ago, there is much for me to talk about. There’s possibly more going on in my head than I even know what to do with, so hopefully I’ll get to get some thoughts out in my blog as well. God has been teaching me many things, and stretching me in many ways - and I hope you’ve been experiencing much the same, being changed and molded by our Father.
One of the ways that God has been challenging me is through my concept of work. What does it mean to be faithful to God? It’s still a question that I’m still trying to work on, wrestling with the notion while being bombarded in my thoughts about what’s bred into me by my social environment. Work, according to our culture, is a means to value and worth and rewards. I do not mean work in an occupational sense exactly. It’s more of a “I’ve given time and effort, so I should receive X, Y, and Z. I’ve done X so I should see the results of it. I do something that you think is a good thing, and so I will earn merit with you,” and so on and so forth. It’s very hard to have the work that I do (in this case, fund raising and ministry) get wrapped up into these notions, especially because they seem to be subtle or even harmless. However, it comes to a point that I’ll work hard, and because of that “hard work” I expect to see the results right away. However, they don’t always come in a time that I would expect.
Because I don’t see immediate results, I come to the questions of, “Am I doing something wrong? Am I not being faithful?” I get myself tossed into doubt, and worst of all I fumble around in worriment. While I’m sure that there are plenty of issues that I need to sort through and pray over, I realize what part of the problem is in getting anxious: my worth and value, and concept of God’s response, is too closely tied to my own efforts and how people approve of me.
People tend to get their identity and their worth out of the kind of work that they do and how well they do it. If I’m doing a good job, I can see the fruit of the labor. I feel really good about myself because other people will be proud of the effort that I’ve put into things. They say that I’m valuable to them as a worker, so therefore I am valuable as a whole person. If I mess something up or make a mistake - or even just perceive that I did - it’s all downhill from there. If I can’t see the results of what I’m doing, I must be doing it incorrectly.
Superficially we all know that the above thinking isn’t the way things work, but in the depths of our psychology that’s how we operate. We weren’t meant for that. I just got off the phone with a friend who reminded me of something that’s very important: God doesn’t ask us for results. God asks us to be obedient and faithful. We may never actually see the fruits of our labors; I recently read through Hebrews, which reminds us that “faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.” I constantly have to be told that I’m not asked for results or success, but that I entrust God with those things. His are the results and His is the success, because all of what we do and work at is meant for the glory of God, not us. Our value and worth is not measured by efforts, or really in anything that we do at all. Our value is measured by God’s covenants and promises, and nothing we do (good or bad) can change that.
I pray that each one of us would be moved and challenged by God about the ways we think about work and our own efforts, so that we can see that our worth is not found in those things but in Him. I also ask He would move us so that our work is our attempts to be faithful and obedient, and not acts that are seeking favor or merit. May the Holy Spirit continually be changing us with His great power, molding us into the likeness of Christ.
In love and in Him,
Your sister,
Yvonne