Not in Vain (3) - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2024

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
1 Corinthians 15:58; 2 Timothy 2:15

Not in Vain (3)
Let the Christian reader specially note the expression, "the work of the Lord." We are not to imagine for a moment that all which engages the energies of professing Christians is entitled to be designated "the work of the Lord." It is far from it! We see a mass of things undertaken as service for the Lord with which a spiritual person could not possibly connect the holy name of Christ. We desire to have the conscience exercised as to the work in which we embark. We deeply feel how needful it is in this day of willfulness, laxity, and wild liberalism, to own the authority of Christ in all that we put our hands to, in the way of work or service.

Blessed be His name, He permits us to connect Him with the most trivial and commonplace activities of daily life. We can even eat and drink in His holy name and to His glory. The sphere of service is wide enough; it is only limited by that weighty clause, "the work of the Lord."

The Christian workman must not engage in any work which does not place itself under that most holy and all-important heading. He must, before he enters upon any service, ask himself this great practical question: "Can this honestly be called the work of the Lord?"

C. H. Mackintosh
Revive Thy work, O Lord; exalt Thy precious Name;

And may Thy love in every heart be kindled to a flame.

Revive Thy work, O Lord; and give refreshing showers:

The glory shall be all Thine own; the blessing, Lord, be ours!

A. Midlane