The Proper Foundation
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Friday, January 22 2010
Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. - Psalm 127:1a
Imagine spending years building an expensive home with the finest materials and craftsmanship. It is a work of art, and the project is almost complete. As the day arrives to move in, a building inspector arrives and hands you a notice that condemns your beautiful home because it doesn't meet code.
Many Christian workplace believers who invest years in their businesses will one day stand before the Lord and realize they were building the house, not the Lord. God is very picky about motives behind the actions. Before we act, we must ask why? Why are we doing what we are doing? Has God called us to this task? Or is the real motive purely financial? Or control. Or prestige.
If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work (1 Corinthians 3:12-13).
David learned this principle by the end of his life. Throughout his life he had learned that God always tested him to find out what was in his heart, and what his motive was in his actions. David instructed his son to "...acknowledge the God of your father, and serve Him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts" (1 Chron. 28:9a).
All of us go to work. God has called us to work. The question we have to ask ourselves is why are we going to work? Our sinful nature wants us to go to work to make money not only to provide for our family but also so we can have things and find pleasure. Or so people will look up to us. Or so we can be powerful. Or so we can find significance and feel good about ourselves. God says go to work because you are called to provide for your family and go to work so that you can influence others for Christ. He also wants us to go to work because He uses our work to help and serve others. God feeds us by raising up farmers and people in the food business. He heals us by raising up people in the medical business, and so on. Going to work also brings glory to God because we are imitating Him and fulfilling His command to rule over and subdue the earth. There is nothing wrong with making money or pleasure, power or prestige if they comes as a by product or are secondary to following God. Those things become sinful idols when they become more important to us than God and His agenda.
Doug Owen
Executive Director
Young Business Leaders of Jackson
618 Briarwood Dr., Suite A
Jackson, MS 39211
o- 601-978-1848 c- 601-201-5489
www.ybljackson.org
