We are God’s fellow workers… —1 Corinthians 3:9

Beware of any work for God that causes or allows you to avoid concentrating on Him. A great number of Christian workers worship their work. The only concern of Christian workers should be their concentration on God. This will mean that all the other boundaries of life, whether they are mental, moral, or spiritual limits, are completely free with the freedom God gives His child; that is, a worshiping child, not a wayward one. A worker who lacks this serious controlling emphasis of concentration on God is apt to become overly burdened by his work. He is a slave to his own limits, having no freedom of his body, mind, or spirit. Consequently, he becomes burned out and defeated. There is no freedom and no delight in life at all. His nerves, mind, and heart are so overwhelmed that God’s blessing cannot rest on him.

But the opposite case is equally true– once our concentration is on God, all the limits of our life are free and under the control and mastery of God alone. There is no longer any responsibility on you for the work. The only responsibility you have is to stay in living constant touch with God, and to see that you allow nothing to hinder your cooperation with Him. The freedom that comes after sanctification is the freedom of a child, and the things that used to hold your life down are gone. But be careful to remember that you have been freed for only one thing– to be absolutely devoted to your co-Worker.

We have no right to decide where we should be placed, or to have preconceived ideas as to what God is preparing us to do. God engineers everything; and wherever He places us, our one supreme goal should be to pour out our lives in wholehearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might…” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

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Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
This one really resonates, being perhaps the closest thing we’ve seen recently to what you have been teaching us these last many months. That there is only one thing to strive for…Being with you. In the Mary and Martha dichotomy … everything else is in Martha’s realm and leads to stress and guilt, because we can never measure up to the standards that others or we ourselves set for us. You seem to have agreed with that in Luke 10:42

…but few things are needed–or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

and in Psalm 27:4 David says similar with a twist I want to ask you about:

The one thing I ask of the LORD–the thing I seek most–is to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, delighting in the LORD’s perfections and meditating in his Temple.

Is David talking about really living in the physical temple? It must have metaphorical meaning somehow, since you said

Acts 17:24
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.

And the temple David was referring to was torn down and many (most) people lived too far away to dwell in that temple daily. These scriptures bring some clarity but also sharpen the question: How do we do what David was referring to and what Mary chose?

Well since we’re Scripture hopping today, here’s a place to start:

1 Cor 3:16
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?

or

2 Corinthians 6:16
For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

Here’s another one that brings the Spirit into the discussion:

James 4:5
Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?

So you are the temple. And I dwell there. By my Spirit. Commune with me there. Share life with me and connect with me and live out of that … like Mary and David. But don’t analyze me and strive to figure me out, or make checklists about how you’re measuring up. That’s like trying to squeeze mercury. You will lose the closeness and start missing blessings, like Martha did.

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Journal Entry for Today-JDV

April 23 2015

Lord, I learned and  leaned to the notion that the scriptures about the Holy Spirit living inside my body temple were about keeping my body temple “clean and pure” for the Holy Spirit. But today, I read these scriptures differently. I read them to mean the Holy Spirit is living inside of me as I surrender my control to God, trust Him, and trust Him to handle the outcomes. Your guidelines and “suggestions” become roadmap directions for living the abundant life you promised, and it is mapped out for me. You are not directing us to good versus “the bad” things in life because you stand in judgment (there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus)…but because your guidelines, and “suggestions” help us find (and stay focused on) the life and blessings you have already created for us.

 And God says…”Trust in Me with all your heart and do not rely on your own understanding and I will make your paths straight. “

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