What Are You Doing? (Focus on Grace, February 2013)

When I was a young man, I worked as a counselor at a Christian camp. This was the kind of place where people shipped off their kids, to spend a week in a Christian environment, hear about the Lord, and learn from Scriptures … all while having some grand fun in a campground that had rustic cabins, horseback riding, boating, swimming, and crafts. It was a formative experience for me; the Lord taught me a lot of important things about what it is to serve Him while I was there, and I like to think He worked through me to teach my charges a lot of important things too. Many of those kids professed Christ during my tenure, and there were steps taken with local churches to follow through with them, so overall, I think it was a great ministry that helped a lot of young people find the Lord.

But, there was one big negative aspect to that camp and how it was run: it was utterly exhausting. My week started just past noon on Sundays, and ended just past noon on the following Saturday. During the week I had exactly half a day off between breakfast and lunch on Wednesdays, and each morning I had only an hour break for devotions with the camp pastor (which I mostly struggled desperately to keep my eyes open in, much less participate). The rest of the time, I was with the kids. I played with them, did sports with them, and taught Bible lessons to them. I had my meals with them, and I slept in the same cabin as them. It was a grueling schedule, and when I went home for the summer in mid August, I barely did more than eat and sleep for a full two weeks. But it wasn’t just the counselors like myself, the entire staff worked like that, and the director himself ever worked any less than 12-14 hours a day. He told us during orientation that he considered it nothing less than his Christian duty to spend his strength that way for the ministry, and he expected the same from everyone who worked there as well.

On the surface, and certainly to me at the time, this seemed like a reasonable attitude for a person whose goal it was to serve the Lord. Did not Christ give His very life for us? Why should we hesitate to spend our own in His service? So I started to feel guilty when my strength flagged. I was young and strong, and much older staff was running circles around me. I just dug in and tried harder, and ignored my body’s complaints. The term wasn’t in vogue then, but anyone will recognize it today: I burned out. I made it through my first summer, but when I came back the following year, something snapped. I was overcome by anxieties I couldn’t explain, and by doubts, and I wound up quitting after only a week. I made up all manner of excuses, but looking back it’s very obvious to me that deep inside I was rebelling against being so used again. The spirit was willing, but the flesh had had quite enough, and since I would just admit I couldn’t keep the pace, I broke down instead.

I’ve had over 35 years to think about what happened to me at that camp. I don’t think the camp director was not wrong or misguided to push himself the way he did. He clearly had the stamina and calling to do so, and he didn’t seem to suffer for it. But I, on the other hand, was working hard to live up to his expectations. We were presented with the idea that any good Christian would work just as hard as the guy that was gifted with a surfeit of strength, whether they were so gifted or not. And that kind of attitude prevails in many ministries; it’s all a blessing and honor to suffer for the Lord as you give yourself to His service.

But what does the Bible really say about it? Here is the passage I eventually fell back on when I was wallowing in guilt for not being able to keep up: “Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.’ And Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.'” (Luke 10:38-42).

Notice, Jesus did not praise Martha for all the good things she was doing for His sake. It almost appears, from that passage alone, that He wasn’t impressed by her service at all. But Mary, He did praise. You see, Mary thought it more important to learn from Jesus than to do things for Him. Of course, there is a balance to be made as well; in James 2:18 it says, “But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works.’ Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” Who you are determines what you will do, and true faith gives birth to good works. But it’s the faith that comes first. It’s the heart that seeks Jesus that comes first. Works grow out of those things, not the other way around. But works themselves are not anywhere near as important as the heart they reveal.

Furthermore, take a look at what Paul said in Philippians 3:7-8 : “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” What were the things Paul counted loss? Look at the preceding verses, it was all the stuff that he did, supposedly in the name of the Lord. It counted as nothing to him because he didn’t do them in the true knowledge of Christ. He says more along similar lines in 1 Corinthians 13; nothing that is done without love is of any value, and love springs directly from the knowledge of God (1 John 4:7-12).

So then, what are you doing? Are you merely serving the Lord, spending your strength for His sake? Or are you learning of Him, and loving as He does? If it’s the latter, your works are gold, silver and precious gems … but if the former, they are mere wood, hay and stubble, no matter how good you think they really are (1 Cor. 3:12). As Christians, our foremost goal must be to know Christ and love Him, and then let our works from that heart.

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