John 9:4 -- We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.
Yesterday's journey with the Lord went down an unexpected and very personal path. In the end, for me and my wife, it brought a powerful perspective on just how far the Lord has taken us in the past two years. Today's journey stayed in the same verses.
Jesus' reply to His disciples not only skips over the religious and theological How/Why/Who but it also brings two other important things to the surface.
Work & Time
Work here in the Greek is ergazomai which means: absolutely- to work, labor, do work, toil; it is opposite to inactivity or idleness.
Some translations say "carry out the work" but in the Greek it says "ἐργάζεσθαι τὰ ἔργα" which literally means "to-be-working the works". It has a much heavier weight to it when you stop and think about toiling or laboring the works of God.
Christian, how much ergazomai or toiling and laboring do you do of God's work? Now this isn't me judging, being legalistic, or trying to condemn. No way. This is a simple honest question for you to think about and talk with the Lord about.
We have an epidemic in our churches of consumer Christians that show up, consume then leave. Box checked for the week. However, that tricky 1 John 2:6 verse really trips things up. It says if we say we abide in Jesus, then we owe a debt to walk as He walked.
Beloved, is your Christian walk like the Dead Sea, everything flows in, but nothing out? If so, this is something to take very seriously, talk with the Lord about, get with a Christian brother or sister to discuss. Don't delay, as we'll see soon time is a factor.
We're called to be working the works like Jesus did. No, we can't work 24 hours a day, we can't serve in every single role at church, nor feed every homeless person, BUT we can get our eyes off the religious rituals and checklists, stop puzzling over the theological/religious How/Why/Who of things, and be the hands and feet of Christ Jesus to those who need it right now. To those who are in our paths and those the Lord leads us to.
Charles Spurgeon said this: “Whenever you see a man in sorrow and trouble, the way to look at it is, not to blame him and inquire how he came there, but to say, ‘Here is an opening for God’s almighty love. Here is an occasion for the display of the grace and goodness of the Lord.’”
Time was the second thing the Lord pointed out today. Jesus says, "night is coming, when no one can work.". It would be easy to get pulled back into the How/Why/Who mentality here and add in a "WHEN". We tend to want to pull everything apart, fully understand it's parts, make sure we know how it ticks, and how it goes back together before deciding to follow or do it. So it'd be easy to ask, "When does the night end?" or "How long is the night?" or "What exactly is night?". You get the idea.
Jesus doesn't stop to define a timeline of things. He simply recognizes and acknowledges there is a finite timeframe to do what we can do for the Lord. So, we had better not waste all our time debating every single How/Why/Who/When while hurt, lost, lonely, people are lying broken right before us.
Guzik summed it up like this: "Jesus understood that opportunities for service and doing good don’t last forever."
Beloved, don't ignore or be unaware of the time you have. There is oh so little time we have on this Earth, don't waste it. Today, right now, is all you have. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow isn't promised. Walk as Jesus walked, be working the works of God, and taking hold of the time you have, to spread the Gospel and love of Jesus Christ.
Well, that's where the adventure went today. Don't take my word on anything, be the Berean, get into the Word and let God show you directly!
You are loved. You are prayed over. You are not alone.
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