reminder: worship, not work.

In a week where I was struggling much with why I was here in Orlando working and and doing what I am currently doing, I was so reminded of the richness of the Body of Christ and how God calls us to BE and not to DO. I would even go as far as to say that He would rather us be His CHILDREN than His workers. In the parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15, the son working on his father's field for years was bitter because of the reaction the rebellious son received upon his return. The older brother complains starting in verse 29, "Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him. 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "

The older son didn't get that the Father is more interested in children than workers. More interested in people who will be engaged in a true loving relationship than an obligatory service.

It's hard for me to comprehend that as someone who is seemingly employed by God. A worker for God, if you will. It's hard for me to understand that God could possibly be more interested in my heart than my work for Him. In a week where it was feeling much more like work than worship, God reminded me that He is not molding me primarily to become a more effective worker, but to become more like Christ. I watched person after person stand and pray for one another as we lifted our burdens and praises to the Lord. I heard person after person pray for those around the world who are suffering, who are lost, who are persecuted, who are serving by name. I heard genuine prayers of genuine care not for the work but for the King. It was beautiful, actually. And I knew that these were the people I wanted to become and that the Lord didn't bring me here just to bear more fruit for His Kingdom and raise up more workers: it is MUCH BIGGER THAN THAT. The redemption of creation is so much bigger than I can even see here.

Can we see all that we do as worship, not work? That everything we do whether in word or in deed is in the Name of Christ Jesus, giving thanks to the Father?