Thought of the Day !!

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

                             1 Corinthians 3:5-9 (NIV)

A lot of Christians are at work today doing great ministry in the world.  Numerous homeless shelters, food pantries, evangelistic efforts etc. are being run to help tons of people.  The question we might ought to ponder today is why we are doing these ministries.  Are we doing them for our own glory, or the glory of God?  And is our work more important than who has called us to do it?

We can get so caught up in doing good things that we forget why we started, and the work becomes what we worship instead of God.  I remember hearing a quote from Oswald Chambers one time that described this.  He said, "We slander God's name when we work for Him without first knowing Him." 

Are we slandering God's name by doing a plethora of ministries simply because we're "supposed" to or for our own good feelings?  The key to successful life-giving ministry is to get to know the God that calls us to it and stay in constant touch with Him.  We can do that by spending time worshiping Him and studying our bibles and simply speaking to Him (and listening). 

Today, make sure you get to know your God, your Savior, your Spiritual Guider, before you go to work for Him.  And find joy in the ministry that He leads you to.

In the love of Christ,

greg