Good morning…
I have continued to think about a random quote shared in our supervision group last week.
“There are a lot of people who work for God and very few who actually work with God.”
Changing just one word makes all the difference. What might it mean for us to work with God rather than working for God to feed the many needs in our hungry world? Jesus himself explains the distinction in John 15:15-16a (AMPC).
I do not call you servants (slaves) any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing (working out). But I have called you My friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father. [I have revealed to you everything that I have learned from Him.]
Those of us who work for God live like mindless puppets tied to the strings of a controlling master. We live totally oblivious to the big picture plans being worked out on earth by the loving One who is in charge. In contrast, those of us who work with God are called “My friends.” Friends freely exchange ideas, heart to heart. Friends share each thought, each feeling, each question, back and forth. Friends pass along all we have heard, revealing everything we are learning, day by day.
You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed you [I have planted you], that you might go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit may be lasting [that it may remain, abide]…
Working with God is embracing who we really are. We are chosen. We are appointed. We are planted by God, in this time, in this place. On our own power we cannot go where God invites. Apart from God we can bear no fruit. If we do not work with God, we will never keep on bearing God’s abundant fruit to feed this hungry world.
To work with God, our mutual friendship becomes our single focus. With Divine power pulsing through our human veins, we bloom wherever we are planted each day. We remain with God. We abide with God. Held in inseparable oneness, with God we witness lasting fruit growing organically in our ordinary lives.
But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified (Galatians 5:22-24, MSG).
Working for God leads to controlling legalism, forcing our way in life, mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities. Working with God, we learn to live God’s way. We witness God gradually growing gifts in our everyday lives much like fruit appears in an orchard. Basking with us in mutual friendship, God is in the process of creatively feeding the starving needs in our hungry world.
What might it look like for you and I to work, to walk, to wonder with God each moment of this ordinary day?
…Sue…
P.S. Author Paula D’Arcy’s loyal friendship with God is brought to life beside the Introduction and Chapters 1 & 2 of Winter of the Heart: Finding Your Way through the Mystery of Grief. To envision what it means to truly grieve with God, enjoy listening to my opening prayer and my thirty-minute teaching from our Lenten Lunch and Learn series from last Wednesday.
