Tag: work

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Laboring for God

The camera’s fall from a wooden post on a mountain in Switzerland.
2 Corinthians 11:23 (ESV)—Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.

The camera survived the fall. Twice. Once toppling from the bed onto a hardwood floor in a Pittsburgh bed and breakfast, and once tumbling from a wooden post on a mountain in Switzerland.

Not to boast, but that’s one resilient camera.

Like my camera, the apostle Paul survived a “fall” more than once in his life. He did not fall from God, though, but rather experienced falls of punishment for spreading the message of salvation. These falls could have sank his spirit. He could have given up. Pushed God’s ministry aside. But he did not. He strove to spread God’s message despite floggings and imprisonment. He did more than survive; he worked for Christ again and again.

Sounds exhausting, no? Yes, but Paul found endurance from boasting…in the Lord. Not in himself or his part in God’s ministry. He labored for God again and again because he knew effective service comes from God.

Like Paul, are we boasting in Christ again and again? Are we serving with our entire being the God who created us with the ability to bounce back from difficult situations and push forward in his ministry?

I hope the answer is a resounding “Yes!” and I pray our “afflictions, hardships, [and] calamities” (2 Corinthians 6:4, ESV) encourage us to labor for the One who created us in his image.

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Powerful Hands

I stared over the edge of the rock wall beyond which lay ten feet of rock and patches of snow ice, followed by a precipitous drop into the Grand Canyon. Gazing at my ice-cleat-clad feet, I gulped even though the cleat’s grip made slipping almost impossible.

“Come on, Amy,” the tour guide encouraged. “Kneel behind the wall and reach up like you need help!” After my husband and I kneeled and posed as if we dangled over the edge, the tour guide encouraged me to stand on the wall. “Amy, grab your husband’s hand.”

I stood and grasped my husband’s hand, saving him from a fictitious tumble sure to break a bone or two. If this situation were reality, and I had to use my hands to pull my husband from the cliff’s ledge, would I be able to do it? Maybe, because the hands are powerful and not only in clasping, pushing, and pulling but also in praising, praying, working, as well as other things.

On the basis of my search of Bible Gateway for the word “hand”—a search pulling up 1,591 results—I know, one, that God’s hands are powerful (obviously!) and, two, that human hands are powerful too, but in a different way. Human hands can fail without God to guide them.

Human Hands

The Beautiful

  • Nehemiah 8:6: Human hands praise God.
  • Deuteronomy 2:7: Human hands work.
  • Deuteronomy 1:25: Human hands share.
  • 1 Corinthians 16:21: Human hands encourage.
  • 1 Timothy 2:8: Human hands pray.

The Ugly

  • Genesis 27:17: Human hands deceive.
  • Matthew 17:12: Human hands bring suffering.
  • Matthew 26:45: Human hands betray.
  • Jonah 3:8; Number 22:29: Human hands commit violent acts.

God’s Hands: Always Beautiful

  • Zechariah 4:8–10: God uses human hands to fulfill prophesy.
  • Acts 6:6; 2 Kings 4:34: God uses human hands to heal.
  • Judges 7:20: God uses human hands to fulfill his plan.
  • Ephesians 4:17: God uses human hands to inspire faith and belief.

  • Numbers 20:11: God uses human hands to provide.

  • 1 Peter 5:6: God’s hand provides a place of refuge.
  • Hebrews 8:9: God’s hand leads us.
  • Matthew 14:31: God’s hand saves us from our doubts.

  • Matthew 8:2–3: God’s hands heal.

Human hands alone, without God, are so powerful and capable. Capable of deceit as well as kindness. Able to share as well as kill. Fit for hard work as well as destruction.

With God, our hands are a powerful tool to work as if working for the Lord, to encourage one another, to share with others, to do God’s work.