Author Todd R

Work, Labor, and Steadfastness

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Many are familiar with the Biblical triad of faith, hope and love from 1 Corinthians 13:13, which says: “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”  In this verse, Paul is calling these 3 characteristics the most important, with love above the other 2.

In another of Paul’s letters he joins this triad with another one.  1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 says, “We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”  He’s saying that faith and works go together, that love and labor go together and that hope and steadfastness go together.  But how do they fit together and do the 3 relationships have anything in common?

When I think of these verses, I see faith, hope and love as the causes of the other 3 characteristics.  Faith motivates works.  Love motivates labor.  Hope motivates steadfastness.  Without the first thing in each pair, it’s hard to consistently have the second thing.  Let’s look at them in order.

The interaction between faith and work is a tricky one, but paraphrasing John Calvin, we are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.  In the New Testament book of his name, James wrote “someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”[1]  Our Savior spent His life on this earth ministering to others, and if we believe in Him as who He actually is (our God), our faith in Him will naturally result in us ministering to others as He did.  Thus, faith motivates us to work as Jesus worked.  Otherwise, it is a dead faith.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Paul also noted the Thessalonians’ “labor of love.”  The “love” here is more than an emotion or feeling.  It’s the love (agape in Greek) that is a self-sacrificing concern for others.  Any others.  G.K. Chesterton said, “the Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.”  True love is hard, like labor.  Strong’s Greek dictionary describes the word translated “labor” as toil that wears us out or even causes us pain.  A labor of love is when we serve people so much in love that it wears us out.    Agape love motivates us to labor for others.

The last pair is the “steadfastness of hope.”  In my experience, hope is only useful when it is steadfast.  If we lose hope when things go wrong, we lose the ability to see beyond our current circumstances to our future in Christ.  Its only when we are able to keep our focus on Christ even in tough times that our hope is steadfast and shows its true value.  In the 2 letters he wrote to the Thessalonians, Paul referred to the second coming of Jesus at least 6 times, which would remind them that their hope is sure and won’t fail them.  Just like the Thessalonians, we need to be reminded again and again of where our hope lies in order to keep living for God.  Hope motivates steadfastness.

Today, if Paul were to write a letter to your church, would he note their “work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ”?  I pray that for my church, including me, he could.  Pray the same for you and yours.

“We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

[1] James 2:18

Does God Like Us?

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Loving someone and liking someone are not the same thing.  Christians think and talk often about the love of God and how He loves His people.  Love is about sacrificing our own interests for the best interest of another, and the incarnation and the cross show what love is in a way nothing else can.  When we think of God’s attributes, love is often near the top of the list.  God loves His people.

But does God like His people?

If I like someone it means I enjoy being with them.  Their presence and fellowship make me feel good.  I think they’re a worthwhile person and it’s easy to give them my time and attention.  I don’t get tired of them easily and need some time away.  Christians don’t talk about whether God likes them as much as they talk about God’s love.  Sometimes we may instead feel that He just puts up with us.  He doesn’t actually like us, even if His love for us is infinite.  Maybe we even feel He wants to keep us at a distance because He resents all the times we’ve failed Him.  But this isn’t how we should feel.

Consider Psalm 149:4, which says:

“For the LORD takes pleasure in his people;
            he adorns the humble with salvation.”

This verse says that God “takes pleasure” in us.  He wants to be with us, and He wants to see us succeed.  He gets pleasure from our praise and our enjoyment of Him.  It also says He gives His people “salvation.”  Salvation means many things, but it includes the restoration of the saved person’s relationship with God.  The restoration of a relationship He wants to have and was willing to die for!  If He didn’t want us around – if He didn’t like us – He wouldn’t offer us salvation.

Consider also Zephaniah 3:17, which continues the idea:

“The LORD your God is in your midst,
            a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
            he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.”

In context, this verse seems to be pointing to either: the condition of God’s people post-exile, after the coming of Jesus, or in eternity in heaven.  My interpretation is that Zephaniah was talking about something that will be partially realized after Jesus’ first coming and fully realized after His second.  It’s one of those “now, not yet” ideas.  So, what is he saying?  He is saying that God is with us and that He will save us, but there’s more.  The second half of the verse sounds like God is celebrating the people that He has saved.  He “will rejoice” and He “will exult” with “loud singing.”  Have you ever pictured God as singing because He has so much joy?  That seems to be what Zephaniah is describing!  When God saves His people, they bring Him so much joy that He sings!

One last verse to consider is Ephesians 2:10, which says:

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

I quote this verse a lot, but today’s focus is on the word “workmanship.”  This word is a translation of the Greek “poiema” from which we derive our English word poem.  In sanctifying us – steadily in this world, and perfectly in the next – God is making something out of us.  He is not making something useless or ugly, but something poetic, and He is pouring all He is into it, like an artist would into a piece of art.  We aren’t a dispassionate work, but a passionate one.  One He cares deeply about.  One that He wants to get right.  To get perfect.  God is not indiscriminately cranking out widgets that are indistinguishable from one another.  Each creation of His is a poem, a work of art!  As Veggie Tales used to say: “God made you special, and He loves you very much.”  We are each an individual “poiema” that He takes pleasure in having created and in continuing to create.

So, not only does God love us, but He also likes us!  He doesn’t just tolerate us until we become perfect, and He doesn’t wait to fully love us until we think we deserve it.  Instead, He wants to be by our side every step of the way from our current, imperfect selves until the day He completes His work in us.  And He enjoys it!  He “takes pleasure in His people,” now and forever.

Do you believe this?  Do you feel not only loved, but liked, by God?  If not, consider again these verses and ask God to comfort you in the fact that He wants to be with you, at all times and no matter what.  He will “rejoice over you with gladness” and “exult over you with loud singing.”  We are His beloved work of art.  His “poiema.”

Amen!

Praying Without Ceasing

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Sometimes the Bible asks us to do things that are hard to take literally.  For example, in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Paul writes that we should “pray without ceasing.”  Other translations say “pray continually,” the same basic message.  But what does it mean?  We can’t kneel, fold our hands, and repeat the Lord’s Prayer all day every day.  Paul wasn’t asking us to do the impossible, but how does one actually do this?

The life of Nehemiah, partially recorded in the Old Testament book bearing his name, may provide a good example for us.  Around 445 B.C., Nehemiah was part of the third group of exiles in Babylon to return to Jerusalem.  About 90 years after the first group returned, he heard Jerusalem’s walls and gates were still in ruins.  He returned to lead the rebuilding of the walls, meeting opposition along the way from those who moved into the area during the exile as well as some of the Jews themselves.

Scattered throughout the book are several brief prayers, what Warren Wiersbe called “telegraph prayers,” [1] in 1992, but we might call them Twitter prayers now.  These very short appeals to God are often made quickly and quietly, and you might say “continually.”  I’ll put them in 3 categories:

The first group of these prayers are prayers for strength.  Early in the story, Nehemiah was serving as cupbearer to King Artaxerxes and had to work up the nerve to ask the king to let him return to Jerusalem and take on the work of rebuilding the walls.  Nehemiah 2:4 says: “Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.”  We don’t know what exactly he prayed, but he must have done it silently and quickly during his conversation with the king, otherwise the king might have been offended.  Prayers can be dropped right into any conversation![2]

Second are prayers for justice, which are similar to the “imprecatory,” or cursing, Psalms, such as Psalm 58.  In these prayers and Psalms the writers curse the enemies of the writer and of God.  Instead of taking time away from the work on the wall, or vowing to take vengeance themselves, Nehemiah trusted God to righteously judge all evil.  In Nehemiah 6:14, he prays this about his opposition: “Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.”  Nehemiah is honest with God about his frustrations but turns them over to God to take care of them.[3]  We too can pray for God to handle any scores we feel we need to settle during the day!

The third category are prayers of dedication, reminders that the work is being done for God and asking that He bless the outcome, as well as the workers, including Nehemiah personally.  In Nehemiah 13:14, after the walls were rebuilt and he oversaw the collection of the tithe, he prayed: “Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service.”[4]  God does not forget any service given to Him, but we can pray to remind ourselves who we serve and trust that He will remember!

Nehemiah’s constant life of worship was made up of more than just short prayers made in the moment.  Longer prayers (all of chapter 9) and fasting are recorded, and along with these short prayers are a clue as to what it means to “pray without ceasing.”  It means to always keep the lines of communication open, to consider that God is there, willing to listen, and lovingly able to bless His people any time.  Even a split second in the middle of something is a good time to pray because His love for us is steadfast.  We always need Him, and He is always able to meet our need!

Therefore, we can repeat the prayer of Psalm 66:20, which says:

“Blessed be God,
            because he has not rejected my prayer
            or removed his steadfast love from me!”

Coda

Steven Curtis Chapman’s 1996 song “Let Us Pray” captures this idea of “pray without ceasing” beautifully.  In it he sings that we should pray “every moment of the day,” because “the Father above, He is listening with love and He wants to answer us”

You can read the song’s lyrics at this link.  Or listen to the full song at this link.

[1] Wiersbe, Warren.  Be Determined (Nehemiah) (1992).  P. 34.
[2] Nehemiah 6:9 is another example.
[3] Nehemiah 4:4-5 and 13:29 are similar prayers.
[4] Nehemiah 5:19, 13:22, and 13:30-31 are similar.

Only God Has Tamed the Tongue

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In many Psalms, the authors complain about the evils in the world and compare them with God and His perfect attributes.  Psalm 12 is one of these, and begins with David lamenting the ungodliness he sees in the world in the first verse:

“Save, O LORD, for the godly one is gone;
            for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.”

What is David so upset about?  James 3:7-8 tells us: “For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”  David is upset by people’s inability to “tame the tongue,” which he describes in verses 2 through 4:

“Everyone utters lies to his neighbor;
            with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
May the LORD cut off all flattering lips,
            the tongue that makes great boasts,
those who say, ‘With our tongue we will prevail,
            our lips are with us; who is master over us?’”

David says the words of the unfaithful are lies, flattering, duplicitous, boasting, proud, and rebellious.  These adjectives also describe much of what we see and hear today, and if we’re honest, much of what we say.  How often do we say things just because they came to mind?  And if they are bad things, but we get away with it or get something we want from it, are we emboldened to continue?  After all, “no human being can tame the tongue.”

There is One, however, who has tamed the tongue.  David contrasts His words with ours in verses 6 and 7:

“The words of the LORD are pure words,
            like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
            purified seven times.
You, O LORD, will keep them;
            you will guard us from this generation forever.”

These words are pure, refined, purified, kept, and preserved.  The number seven in the Bible is often used to indicate perfection, so if His words are “purified seven times”, they are perfectly considered and constructed before they are delivered to us.  God keeps all His promises, and His word never expires.

Even when the world is full of people who speak ungodly words, the Lord’s words are pure and can be trusted. Because of this we know He will “guard us from this generation forever.”  Someday our words will be like His words.

Amen

The Value of Work: A Quint of Quotes

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Dear fellow travelers,

Here is another “Quint of Quotes” from my collection on the theme of work:

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill

Photo by Taya Kucherova on Unsplash

“God is more concerned about His workers than He is about their work, for if the workers are what they ought to be, the work will be what it ought to be.” – Warren Wiersbe

“The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship” – Martin Luther

“A holy life will produce the deepest impression. Lighthouses blow no horns; they only shine.” – D. L. Moody

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.  You are serving the Lord Christ.” – Colossians 3:23-24