Our mission to work as unto the Lord can quickly become overwhelming given the massive needs in our society; but Jesus made it simple for us, and He defeats our anxieties...
The local food bank...
The local church...
A close friend's illness...
A job loss...
Truly, there is no shortage of NEED around us.
In fact, the need around us can be downright overwhelming for anyone trying to live the life of a maturing, compassionate Christian.
So what does it look like to do work as unto the Lord in our communities which are characterized by need?
Building His Kingdom... Our Way
As growing Christians, many of us are continually searching for our role in building His kingdom here on earth.
We look to be "in God's will" and find our purpose for Him in every day. This can be quite a challenge as we long to go beyond "being a nice person" to those around us and start living deeply for Jesus.
Our search can lead to periodic acts of service such as funding missionaries, reading for kids at a local school, volunteering at a local nursing home, etc. We explore these as additional calendar items in the name of serving to build God's kingdom.
Furthermore, the church itself often delivers a challenge of service to its own congregation. In a self-interested kind of way, Sunday's messages from the pulpit include a list of service opportunities within the church. This is not surprising. After all, any given church organization has a great deal of work to be done just to function week over week - worship ministry, hospitality ministry, administrative work, financial stewardship, etc.
In general, we are often told that we should be doing more to represent Jesus to the world - to be the salt and light of the earth through our acts of service.
But what did Jesus say?
Building His Kingdom... His Way
Jesus' ministry was filled with teaching of how to think accurately, behave maturely, and live righteously.
But before we get lost in all the details of what we are called to do within thousands of specific circumstances, there is a surprisingly simple way to do the work of God.
There is a single focus that can be our foundation for ALL our efforts to live as Jesus taught.
We find it in John 6:29, when Jesus was asked directly how to do the work of God:
Jesus replies, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
That's it!
Believe in Jesus.
You see, it's actually that simple. Directly from Jesus, we learn all of our work that Jesus requires of us is just to believe in Him. To have faith in Him and His promises.
When we really GET this, everything else flows from our committed belief. We will love God above all else, love our neighbors as ourselves, and make disciples of men, effortlessly.
In other words, all of our specific acts of building God's kingdom occur, but as a natural overflow of what is at our core - BELIEVING in Jesus.
Conclusion
It is easy to become overwhelmed trying to do God's work here on earth. There's just no shortage of need around us. That, combined with our efforts to grow in Christian maturity, can have us feeling ineffective and hopeless to help build God's kingdom.
But Jesus gave us a simple reminder of all He requires to do God's work when He answers the crowd that the work of God is to believe in the one he has sent - Him. All our acts of service as salt and light to the earth will flow naturally from our deep conviction in who Jesus was and is.
