A lot of people take time for reflection in the New Year. It’s a good time to look back at what you wanted to get done, get started, or stop doing and see how that compares with today and tomorrow. Reflection can reveal to us how we’ve slipped back into old habits that we needed to break away from or that we’ve started a new habit we might need to reconsider. Whatever the case may be, let’s always be sure that the standard we use is not judging one another in his or her faithfulness, but is instead comparing our own lives to the standards set by the law of Christ.
For Christians, we don’t need to wait for the New Year for this kind of reflection. Each week, we gather together in the name of God to worship through the offering up of our praises in prayer and in song. We worship through giving and we worship through our time in communion.
This communion, or Lord ’s Supper, is a time that requires reflection. Paul writes to the church in Corinth to remind them of this need. He says that when they would take of the supper “without discerning the body” that they would be found in judgment “against themselves.” (1 Cor 11:29). This is what he means when he says it’s possible to take the supper in an “unworthy manner” -- it’s a manner without thought, without reflection, without discerning the body of believers or the body of Christ (1 Cor 11:27).
So when I worship in communion, Lord help me to discern Christ and His character. His capacity for love & compassion should inspire me to put the needs of others before my own. His capacity for service and devotion should inspire me to find new people to share the Gospel with and in new ways. His humility and submission to the will of the Father should humble me, and allow me to see ways I still need to be conformed into the image of God.
Some people might take issue in connecting work with Christianity. There are a
great number of verses that speak of the work of Christ on the cross, the
saving grace that Jesus shares with believers, and the loving patience of God
that waits for the faithful to come home. While it’s true that “faith comes by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17) and “it is by grace you
have been saved, through faith” (Eph. 2:8a), “We remember before our God and
Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your
endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thes 1:3). We remember
that for Christians, work, labor, and endurance are vital parts of our lives.
Christians have a call to live holy and righteous lives (Mt.
6:33) but what we might not realize is that living righteously means more than
just striving to live without sin, it means doing the work of God. In part, we
do the work God has set for us by believing (John 6:29). Life doesn’t stop at believing, at having
faith, at trusting in the blood of Christ. Life continues. And we are to
continue living out our faith not just by what we don’t do, but by what we are
doing.
Timothy was a believer. He was raised in a believing home by a faithful mother
and grandmother. They believed and they taught Timothy what to believe and how
to trust in God. Timothy trusted God, but his faith didn’t leave him where it
found him. Timothy would go on to become a trusted companion of Paul, serving
side-by-side with Paul in the preaching of the Gospel and the ministry to many
congregations.
Even after all this had taken place, Timothy’s work hadn’t
ceased. He continued, and in Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he was charged to
continue continuing! After all he had accomplished, there was still work to be
done: “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.” (1 Tim. 6:11).
The work of the Christian never ends. Timothy was told, as
we are, to PURSUE – that is, to continue, to keep on, to chase after, to strive
for, to reach for, to never give up, to never think that the working has
reached its completion. How are you pursuing righteousness in your life? Are
you pursuing godliness? How does your pursuit of faith and love show itself in
how others see you?
As we think on these things, let’s remember to always keep pursuing, knowing
the work of the Christian never ends.
