How to Work for God without Losing Your Religion

I'm over at Beliefs of the Heart today where I wrote a piece called How to Work for God without Losing Your Religion.

Photo by Samuel Zeller

Kingdom work is critical. Jesus said the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. And yet serving the Lord in any capacity without the proper motivations bastardizes the Gospel, transforming it into a sort of karmic Christianity. Or worse!

Here's how the post begins. I hope you'll take the time to click over to Sam Williamson's site to read the rest:

A young man named Jacob was a fixture of service at my church. I was impressed at his level of ministry dedication. Whenever an event or project arose in the church, more often than not, Jacob was there, lending a hand. 

As time went on and I got to know Jacob better, I discovered something was awry; it just felt wrong. Come to find out, his primary motivation for serving was guilt. His dad, who was an associate pastor, pressured Jacob into serving every week and at every event. 

But guilt isn’t the only negative driver for Christians. For some, their motive is the hope of earning salvation. This motivation is subconscious; people in this camp agree we are saved by grace through faith alone, and yet their behavior tells a different story. 

Others serve to feel good about themselves. In doing so, we seek a different kind of salvation-by-works: salvation from low self-esteem. Enjoying serving the Lord is not wrong, but it is wrong to rely on our accomplishments to derive our worth. God values us not for what we have done, but for who we are. 

I’ve been in these latter camps, and I’ve dipped into Jacob’s camp too. But let me tell you: all three are folly. Working for God without proper motivation is, at best, meaningless. 

Why focus so much on motivations for serving? you might be asking. Who cares about motives if the work is getting done, right?

Want to read the rest? Here's that link one more time: How to Work for God without Losing Your Religion.

Maybe It's Time We Redefine Ourselves

What do you do?

Isn't that the first thing you ask after meeting someone? Other than first name, it seems to be the most important piece of information you can obtain. Once we get those two data points, we can begin to accurately triangulate our new acquaintance's identity.

And since we place such a high value on occupation (I use the term loosely), it's no wonder that the loss of a job leads to a loss of identity. It's no wonder stay-at-home parents despair when their children leave home for good to go to college. Their job is done.

InAweOfGod'sCreation (CC)

We wrap up our identities in what we do. When we lose that thing—whatever it is we do—we feel a loss of purpose. As an author I have struggled with this. If a book doesn’t sell well or isn’t reviewed well, then I must not be worth very much. It is hard for me to separate my worth from the books. 

But the truth God has been reminding me of is this: Your identity lies not in what you do, but to whom you belong.

Easy to say, right? But unfortunately for us humans, it’s not as simple as that. And the more I’ve thought about that statement, the more I’ve realized just how deep the problem goes.