Working & Serving in Christ Jesus!

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” – Colossians 3:23-24 NIV

The context of Colossians 3:23-24 is for slaves of every kind because if we look at the verse 22, the sentence starts off with “Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything…” However, Colossians 3:23-24 apply for all of us whether we are actual slaves or not. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10) The main reason is that all of us have been created to be the images of God (Genesis 1:27). “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” (Romans 8:29-30) In other words, we have been called to be the lights of Jesus Christ, especially if we are true followers of Him (Matthew 5:14-16). In fact, Jesus is going to come into the world from heaven with the angels of God at the end of the age to judge each one of us according what we have done (Matthew 16:27).

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (Titus 2:11-14)

Nevertheless, as Ephesians 2:10 states, we ought to believe not only about Jesus Christ but in Him before we work and serve the Lord with all of our hearts. This is because if we only believe about Jesus, we have knowledge of God but we are actually not be able to serve Him, that is compared to the ones who are in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). This means that if we only know about Him and serve enthusiastically all the time, then we are still in our sins (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Therefore, we have to be in Christ Jesus to serve and work for Him truthfully (1 Samuel 12:24). Thus, for this reason, the word of God declares, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. (Galatians 5:13)

… count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:11-14)

As for me, for example, I have been writing devotionals not to please people but please the Lord, since I know that Christian-writing is the will of God for me. Almost time I write devotionals, I feel that the Holy Spirit is empowering me to write. This means without the Spirit of God, I absolutely have no idea to do Christian-writing, such as devotionals. However, there are a couple of times I wrote devotionals without the Spirit. At those moments, I stopped writing, try to focus on the Spirit and the Kingdom of God, or something like that. This is because I find the writings really hard when I do not feel that the Spirit is not empowering and leading me to write. Thus, overall, the main reason about me doing Christian-writing is to magnify the name, the righteousness and the kingdom of God, even though it takes me about two to four hours.