Living Works

Before I accepted Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, I was, well a … “Christian”. In fact, that’s my middle name. You see, I grew up in the Church, my mom being a very active Church planter. Yet in spite of this clear advantage, I wasn’t making strides in life. I knew I was busy everyday but I couldn’t point to one or two things of significance that I had accomplished. There was movement, but no achievement. There was motion but no arrival. While I was not the baddest guy in my school, I wasn’t recognized for being good either. Things I did were not necessarily sin, but neither were they righteous. I was coasting, doing things of insignificance. I was exhibiting symptoms of a life filled with dead works.

Jesus Christ exemplified a life full of living works. He put in the work mentoring 12 disciples. For months, He put up with them, encouraged them, taught them, fed them even. These 12 disciples multiplied into hundreds, then thousands. Today, millions claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Jesus preached with fervency, obeyed even up to the cross. Dying to save you and I. He confounded the wise and revealed Himself to the humble. He became poor that we may be rich He took upon Himself, our sins, dying that you and I might live eternally. The life and work of Jesus Christ can be described in one word: “Impact”.

In Physics, we learn that work equals force multiplied by the distance moved. In other words, it is the effort you expended magnified by the impact of that effort. Effort alone is not enough. Impact is to be considered as well. Was your force validated by distance? Did your effort have an impact? If not, it is classified as dead works. If it did, then it is a living work. A work that has life in it. A life giving effort. Every one works, but fewer still, have impact. All work is not relevant work. Some work is neutral, some regressive even. Living work is that which is magnified by impact.  Your life work is the sum total of your living works. Thank God that He has freed you and I from dead works to do work that really matters.

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? – Hebrews 9:14