At Work or At Play

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="02c285a1erlcgo.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>For The Believers In The Body Of Christ</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="For The Believers In The Body Of Christ"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id578.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="An Inner Feeling"><U>An Inner Feeling</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id376.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Crossing Cultural Boundaries"><U>Crossing Cultural Boundaries</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id555.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gods Provision"><U>God's Provision</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id671.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mourning Into Dancing"><U>Mourning Into Dancing</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id153.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Related to the Campus"><U>Related to the Campus</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id471.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Salvation Through Illness"><U>Salvation Through Illness</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id658.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="You Are Special"><U>You Are Special</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id705.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Doubts Answered"><U>Doubts Answered</U></A>   |   <B>At Work or At Play</B>   |   <A HREF="id742.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Bible Recall Notice"><U>The Bible Recall Notice</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id767.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Made Perfect Through Suffering "><U>Made Perfect Through Suffering </U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="02ad2c00dkelyh.gif"> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Spiritual Food"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011899330000.gif" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Spiritual Food</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Psalms, Hymns Spiritual Songs"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011899330000.gif" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id147.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gospel Outreach"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011899330000.gif" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Gospel Outreach</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id159.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Us"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011899330000.gif" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">"About Us"</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id186.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011899330000.gif" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Contact Us</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id187.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Related Links"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011899330000.gif" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Related Links</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id639.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="JESUS IS LORD!"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011899330000.gif" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">JESUS IS LORD!</B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>At Work or At Play</I></div> <div> I am impressed that the Lord desires to live in us, through us and out of us ... and in such a practical, daily way.  This fact is implicit in 1 Timothy 3:16, "<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>He who was manifested in the flesh</B></FONT>."  As a young believer years ago, I thought that to follow God meant to know the Bible, preach it to others, and know the proper teaching or so called truth.  After years of study, I think I know the Bible as good as most and I have tried my hand at preaching door to door in the streets, market places, fairgrounds, etc.  Eventually, I have learned that what most people call 'truth' is actually doctrine, practice, culture or history.  Their kind of 'truth' has become a great source of division in the Body of Christ.  On the contrary, the Lord desires us to possess and live His humanity.  One of the greatest truths possible is that we as fallen human beings can tap into the divine life and touch the uplifted humanity of Christ in our daily lives!</div> <bR> <div> I am learning to seek and find Christ EVERYWHERE.  I find Him at work.  I find Him in my son's baseball aspirations.  I find Him in disciplining my children.  I find Him in "courting" my wife of 20 years!  I find Him when driving in my car.  I find Him in all I do and especially wherever He leads me.  And He leads me very practically.  Why do I bring this up?  Because so many Christians think that doctrine is the way to live.  Others think that our practical daily living doesn't count for anything, but we should know "truth".  Jesus said, "<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life</B></FONT>."  Our person is our truth.  How much we incorporate the living Christ into us is the amount of truth we possess.  No amount of doctrine, ritual, religious practices, accepted culture and established history can issue forth the divine life of Jesus on this earth.  Jesus is a person, not a doctrine.  Jesus is a life, not a practice.  Jesus is the Author and Perfector of our faith, not a culture or history to adapt to or follow.</div> <bR> <div> Recently, I have had a deeper experience of Christ at work.  We have had many changes in my job and it has costs hundreds of hours of extra work to make transitions.  One aspect is preparing new materials.  In one case, I am preparing materials for three other coworkers to use.  For one week's worth of materials, it takes me 30-40 hours of behind the scenes work ... outside of work hours.  It is demanding, time consuming and often stress producing.  Yet, the Lord is faithful to give me ideas, to give me energy, to help me put the materials together in a professional and easy to use way.  One of my colleagues has been complaining about a couple minor points in the materials I prepared.  This person simply uses what I have produced and does not have to spend the 30-40 hours each week to prepare them.  So, my flesh reared up towards this person.  I walked by their room one day and heard my name taken in vain.  I was upset.  The Lord then used another situation (totally unrelated) to get my attention.  I was signing up to be a volleyball official and forgot a couple of things on a website application.  I remembered late at night and when finished, I could not sleeep.  Therefore, my wife could not sleep either.  However, the more I tossed and turned, the more I turned to the Lord ... although complaining and argumentative.  He waited patiently for an opening and brought the real issue to the surface.  </div> <bR> <div> In the morning, I found Christ.  I asked Him, "Why would this coworker not be appreciative.  I do good work and have saved them hundreds of hours of work. Yet, they bad mouth me.  At least they could show alittle appreciation."  The Lord spoke to me clearly in my spirit.  I sensed Him telling me that this coworker was nervous due to the novelty of the materials.  As they presented them, they would feel inadequate and their way of dealing with that is to criticize me rather than allow themselves to look poorly in other people's eyes.  My anger began to subside and I started to sense some compassion.  The Lord also gently rebuked me, "You're proud.  Who gave you the ideas, the energy, the design, the capability to produce all the materials?"  I realized that the Lord was very much with me and I was not giving Him the credit due nor gaining the blessing He had prepared for me in a difficult situation.  He was fully aware of the situation and He was intimately walking with me.  I need not worry about what others say or how they handle the riches I offer.  That is in His hands.  My role is to seek, find and follow Christ.</div> <bR> <div> It seems the hardest lesson for me to learn is to accept the environment the Lord allows and then seek Him in that situation.  I always try to run away from the nasty stuff.  My thought is:  "I'm a believer and should not have to put up with a lot of negative things.  The world is evil and getting worse.  I want to hide and find solace elsewhere."  But the Lord is training me that I am His child and He is mapping out my path.  I need to cooperate with Him in everything.  Instead of reacting in anger to situations, I need to see them as opportunities for ME to gain Christ.  He has placed me in the world as a light and salt.  He is the Light in me shining forth.  He is the salt issuing out of me to effect others.  He is the Master Designer, the Master Architect, and the Master Builder for all the situations in my life.  I've always tried so hard to do the right thing.  Now, I realize, that I simply need to seek and follow Christ and He will become the solution in any situation:  whether good or bad.</div> <bR> <div> So the morale of this story is that our daily, practical affairs are a marvelous avenue of gaining Christ and expressing His humanity to others.  I do not have to feel guilty about playing ball with my son as if that is not spiritual.  When I follow the Lord's leading to take my daughter out to dinner, I do not have to feel I'm squandering the Lord's blessing of my finances.  On the contrary, when I follow Christ everything becomes spiritual.  When I follow His intimate leading in my daily life, I find inner peace, inner joy and inner stability no matter how messed up the world is or how unstable I feel outwardly.</div> <bR> <div> CTR 12/23/06</div> </td> </tr></table></body>