October 13 - My Heart’s Workroom

My Heart’s Workroom

“Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Colossians 3:23

In St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, there is an original famous Victorian painting where Jesus is standing outside the door of a house with the words, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock?” It has been reproduced many times.  It’s the picture of Jesus standing outside of a home and He is knocking to come in.   It’s been copied all over the world to reveal that God is looking to come into our lives.  That knocking has taken place in every heart in the history of the world.  People have one of two responses.  People let Him in.  People leave Him out.  When we do, He wants to transform us.

Over the last few days, we have been talking about Robert Munger’s booklet, My Heart, Christ’s Home, where he uses the picture of the places in His heart where Christ wanted to go once He came in.   Universally, the unredeemed hearts are cluttered and messy due to the fact that we are the ones who control, or let other things control, those areas before coming to know Christ.  As much as you are “Master and Commander” of your life, you are going to find a pattern of problems that occur no matter how hard you try. The reason is that life outside of Christ will never be what we were made to be.  Sin creates that problem.  Sin “not only makes us stupid”, it makes life hard. Sin brings guilt.  Only when we let Christ in do we find the freedom that comes in knowing Him.  We experience His hand upon us.  The question is, “Will we let Him in?”
In his booklet, Robert Munger talks about the “Workroom” when he shares how Christ visited his one day.   Before long He asked, "Do you have a workshop in your home?" Down in the basement of the home of my heart I had a workbench and some equipment, but I was not doing much with it. Once in a while I would go down and fuss around with a few little gadgets, but I wasn't producing anything worthwhile. I led Him down there. He looked over the workbench and what little talents and skills I had. He said, "This is quite well furnished. What are you producing with your life for the Kingdom of God?" He looked at one or two of the little toys that I had thrown together on the bench and He held one up to me. "Are these little toys all that you are producing in your Christian life?" "Well," I said, "Lord, that is the best I can do. I know it isn't much and I really want to do more, but after all, I have no skill or strength." "Would you like to do better?" He asked. "Certainly," I replied. "All right. Let me have your hands. Now relax in me and let my Spirit work through you. I know you are unskilled and clumsy and awkward, but the Spirit is the Master-worker and if He controls your hands and your heart He will work through you." And so, stepping around behind me and putting His great, strong hands over mine, controlling the tools with His skillful fingers, He began to work through me. There's much more that I must still learn and I am very far from satisfied with the product that is being turned out, but I do know that whatever has been produced for God has been through His strong hand and through the power of His Spirit in me. Do not become discouraged because you cannot do much for God. Your ability is not the fundamental condition. It is He who is controlling your fingers and upon whom you are relying. Give your talents and gifts to God and He will do things with them that will surprise you.

Whether your abilities are cycling or recycling, they’re to be used to honor God. The Bible says this “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” That means any of those abilities I just listed and any other one can be used for God’s glory. Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. They’re all important.  Carpentry is as important as teaching and masonry is as important as preaching. Managing is as important as music. They’re all important.  There are no unimportant abilities. God said, “I spread them all out and they’re all important to Me.” That means you can honor God by repairing cars. You can honor God by balancing books. You can honor God by helping people find a home and sell it to them. You can honor God by making music or making meals or managing your office or a million other ways.  Whatever you do, He says, do it for the Lord as if you’re doing it for God and not for man. He says do it for God’s honor.

Three things to keep in mind

1) Evaluate them.
Romans 12:3 “Try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities by the light of the faith God has given you.” That means do an assessment of your life. What am I good at? Do an audit of your abilities. Make a list. If you’re going to be effective in the twenty-first century you’ve got to know your strengths.

2)  Dedicate them.
Give them back to God. Commit them to God for the use He intended. Romans 12:1 says “Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to His service and pleasing to Him.” You say, “God, You gave me these abilities. Now I’m
going to give them back to You. God-given abilities can be used for the right purposes or the wrong purposes.

3. Cultivate them.
Cultivate your abilities. That means practice, improve, sharpen, develop, cultivate. Any ability that God has given you can be increased with use and
practiced. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 10:10 “If the ax is dull and its
edge is unsharpened, more strength is needed. But skill will bring success.”

In Ephesians 4, Paul says this, “Why is it that God gives us these special
abilities to do certain things best? It is that God’s people will be equipped to do better work for Him. Building up the church, the body of Christ, to a position of strength and maturity.” As the old song says, “Put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled  the water…put your hand in the hand of the man who calmed  the sea…take a look at yourself and you can  look at others differently… put your hand in the hand of the man from Galilee.”  Let Him into the workroom of your life today.

Terry Risser

Reflections:

1)   What gifts has God given you that He wants to use?

2)   Why do we sometimes struggle to see our gifts?

Consider reading the Word today:

 

Copyright 2014- Terry Risser