Pastor’s pen: Work is good, but don’t worship it!

There are many encouraging passages in scripture that serve to strengthen our faith that God cares about our needs and He is willing and able to meet them. One such scripture is Jesus words as he preached the Sermon on the Mount: “..do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or …what you will wear…For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matt 6:25, 32-33) God does not want us to starve and He does not want s wandering around in a loin cloth, but He doesn’t want us to be ensnared by “pagan” or “worldly” thinking that makes us think we have to have this and we have to have that. God’s desire is for us to live a life of worship that is characterised by thankfulness, and not be worshipping with worry the idol of vain pursuit.

So does this mean we should do nothing to contribute to our own needs? No - God is not a god of laziness! But it does appear that some early Christians had decided living by faith meant it was alright to be doing nothing. The Apostle Paul addresses this in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 when he says, “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”  Furthermore the scripture in Matthew says not to chase “things” but to pursue God (His kingdom and His righteousness ie. what’s important to God).

God created us to be productive and delights in blessing the works of our hands when our work is done out of a heart to honour Him. But when we allow our hard work to replace God as the object of worship and our heart is drawn away to the pursuit of selfish pleasures and temporary possessions; when we stop trusting in God’s provision and spend more time working out how I can get ahead than meditating on the goodness of God, we are in effect forsaking the Lord and instead pursuing idols of the heart.

So we can and should be trusting in God for our provision. But as we pray and ask God to meet our every need, we should look with expectation for the opportunities He will open up for us to work hard at. We must not however fall into the trap of believing it is my hard work that has brought this provision but it simply my obedience to trust Him and do whatever He puts before me to do. This will help me remember that everything I have is a gift from God and to hold loosely the things of this life. In other words: Work is good, but don’t worship it!