09/11/07

True Service - Quality Service

The great weight of exhortation these days is in the direction of zeal and activity. "Let's get going" is the favorite watchword for gospel workers, with the result that everyone feels ashamed to sit down and think. But it will pay to do it, nevertheless. It would be a shock to most of us to learn just what God thinks of our breathless activity, and a greater shock to many to find out the true quality of our service as God sees it. For not all religious activity is accepted of God, not even when it appears to produce results and get things done. The Lord seeth not as man seeth. God calls the six days that man works as 'Good days' and the Sabbath Day wherein he trusts in the Lord as 'Holy Day'.

Christian service, to be accepted of God, must be fresh, sincere and trusting in the Lord. Whatever is done out of habit is not approved; anything done in a perfunctory manner is below the level of quality expected of us. The careless song, the sermon preached for no higher reason than because it is Sunday again, the tithe tossed into the plate, the testimony given because it seems the thing to do, working on one's own strength -- not one of these will stand up under the searching eyes of God. In Christian service motive is everything, for it is motive that gives to every moral act its final quality.


[ Prayer for the Day ]

Lord, please remind me that service to You is not restricted to a church (institute) building or a church office position. I can do the menial tasks of life to Your glory though unnoticed by others. I trust in You to guide my every step as I work in Your vineyard. This I ask in Jesus' Name. Amen.


[ Reference Scripture ]

Proverbs 20:27 [NIV]
27 The lamp of the LORD searches the spirit of a man;
   it searches out his inmost being.


Proverbs 3:5-6 [NIV]
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
   and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge him,
   and he will make your paths straight.


Luke 6:46-49 [NIV]
46 "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? 47 I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 49 But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete."


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