Revive Our Hearts

Guest (Female): Does the daily grind consume you? Are you overwhelmed by everything on your to-do list?

Portia Collins: I think that there is a healthy balance that God intentionally put in place. He created us to work, but also He worked six days and rested on the seventh. So He models everything that we’re supposed to be doing, and I think we just need to go back to the beginning and take some notes.

Dana Gresh: Welcome to Revive Our Hearts Weekend. I'm Dana Gresh. Those cute little guys sure did love to work. Let me see if I can remember their names. There was Doc, Dopey, Sleepy, Happy, Grumpy, Bashful, and Sneezy. Of course, they worked in a mine with their picks and axes, and you probably use different tools when you work. But I want to ask, do you sound as happy as them when you’re heading off to do your job?

We all have work to do. Some of us are accountants, some are daycare workers and teachers, nurses, executives at the office, executives at home—yes, I’m talking to you, Mama—writers, social media managers, janitors, cooks. The list is endless.

First of all, let me thank you for what you do to make this world a better place. Thank you. Thank you for your contribution to our society. God knows you, and God sees the tasks before you. But do you ever feel like you’re stuck on a hamster wheel, doing the same thing day after day, working, working, running, running, sometimes frazzled and getting absolutely nowhere?

Let’s see if we can gain some health and balance in how we approach work. First stop, the Revive Our Hearts Women of the Bible podcast. During an episode on the life of Ruth, Erin Davis, Kristen Clark, and Portia Collins discuss the value of work and our attitude toward it.

Erin Davis: How would you assess or describe our culture's view of work, Kristen?

Kristen Clark: I feel like there's twofold. It’s work like crazy. Hustle, hustle, hustle. Work is everything. It’s all of your success, it’s your identity. Your work, just do it like crazy. And then there's kind of this other side that’s like, work is a burden. I don’t want to work, so I’m just going to kind of be lazy and do my own thing, do what makes me happy.

Portia Collins: I always go back to Genesis and how I think we miss the fact that we were given work before the fall. We were created to work, to do work. But the thing is, our work should not consume us and our work should not—that's not where the glory goes. The glory goes to God.

So anytime when we’re working and I feel like we make an idol of that work, we’re in dangerous territory. And then on the flip side of that, when we are just totally against working and just want to sit back and kick our feet up, once again, we’re in some dangerous territory. I think that there is a healthy balance that God intentionally put in place. He created us to work, but also He worked six days and rested on the seventh. So He models everything that we’re supposed to be doing, and I think we just need to go back to the beginning and take some notes.

Erin Davis: I think part of the reason the three of us are such close friends is because we’re all a little Type A. So I like to say I’m not Type A, I’m Type AA. Get the job done all the time. I have a sign in my office that says "People over projects" because I have to remember not to just think that my to-do list is my be-all, end-all.

So I think I gravitate most into "work is my identity," but I can see the other camp gravitating towards "work is a waste of my time." And I think Ruth is going to give us maybe some healthy perspectives on work. I want to read us a comment that came in through Grounded, and I love this comment. This takes us all the way back to COVID-19—she’s referencing that—but she says, "Thank you, COVID-19, for reminding me that work is a privilege." She had that in all caps, which we know means we mean business. "Work is a privilege." She said, "I don’t have to work, but I get to work and help provide for my family. May I never take work for granted." And I’ve thought about this comment many, many times: the privilege of work.

Dana Gresh: Work is a privilege. Have you ever considered that? God created purpose, and it’s a privilege to participate in what He assigns to us in our corner of the world. And that’s true no matter how much we do or don’t love our job. I mean, consider what Paul wrote in Colossians chapter 3, verses 23 and 24. Let me just read it to you. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

First of all, he wrote that knowing that many of the people who would read it were slaves. They didn’t even get to choose their work. But he said if they do the work not for the human master but for the Lord, there’d be a reward. What assignments or chores do you have on your to-do list today? Who are you doing it for? If you’ll start considering yourself to be working for the Lord, you may start to feel just how very privileged you are.

Now I want you to meet a woman with a fascinating work story, and I want you to hear what’s the difference between just working for a paycheck and truly working for God.

Julie McGregor: My name is Julie McGregor. I’m from New Zealand, and I currently live and have lived for seven years in Cambodia. I called out to God and said to him, "I need to see You at work in a bigger context than my life." And so my church said there’s a lady in Cambodia who we support and she needs some help for a couple of months. So that’s how I first got there, and I haven’t moved back. So Cambodia is home now.

In the beginning, I was working with small Christian organizations doing leadership development. But really, my whole rhythm of life was the same. I was very good at doing work for Jesus. All I did was swap being paid a lot for not being paid a lot, from living and working in a Western context around the world to living and working in a Third World context. I was still making sure I was achieving and being valuable. I thought I have to be valuable to God and use every skill that He’s given me, and I have to be value for the supporters that are sending me.

This pressure to achieve was crushing. So I began seeking the Lord, asking Him to uncover the root of her desire for success. And my identity He showed me was caught up in achieving. And all I really had done was swap my context, but I was still working for Him, but He showed me I wasn’t working with Him.

If our relationship with our Father, if our intimate relationship with the Lord is put on the back burner and is not the bullseye, is not the central focus, then we will burn out and we will be toxic to the very people that we have been called to love. Now, I work in Cambodia's largest women's prison in Phnom Penh. I teach Bible, we worship. I’ve never been to seminary, I’m completely unqualified to be doing what I’m doing. Yet God truly is so strong in my weakness.

The women in my class, which has grown over the last five years from about six people to 40, is made up of women from all over the world, every continent. It was through listening to Revive Our Hearts that I actually really thought, "Oh, I actually don’t think I know my Bible." And so that was the beginning of me letting projects go and doing less, it would seem to the outside world, really studying God's Word for myself and now teaching the women in the prison to study for themselves. And God is transforming them as they recognize their true identity. I am so grateful.

Dana Gresh: And I’m so grateful for Julie. God is transforming these women into His likeness, but it started with Julie being faithful. And what an example of Colossians 3 verse 24: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord." You don’t have to be in full-time Christian ministry or go to another country to do your work as for the Lord. That’s not the point. Here’s what I want you to take away from this. Whatever we do, we work with Him. Bookkeeper, teacher, doctor, editor, entrepreneur, maker of widgets, wiper of noses and bottoms. As you go, as you use your hands, remember that God gave you this job, this position. It’s good.

I know of a nurse who reminds herself as she heads into the clinic each morning, "The Lord establishes my work." And she took that from Psalm 90:17. It’s one of my favorite verses to quote when I begin to get overwhelmed by or addicted to what I accomplish each day. The full verse reads like this: "Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands." If you’re struggling with the daily grind or maybe you love it, you still need to be reminded: the Lord establishes our work. Not me, not you, the Lord. Maybe you need to write that on a post-it note and stick it to your mirror. That’s Psalm 90:17.

The work of our hands is important. Even if it's monotonous, it's good. God used His hands. He created the world and still holds it in His hands. Jesus worked with His hands. He built things with His hands and He healed with His hands. I wanted Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth to share with us some of the great examples in God's Word of His people using their hands, toiling for Him. Here’s Nancy.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: The apostles worked with their hands. First Corinthians 4, the Apostle Paul said, "We labor, working with our own hands." And Acts chapter 20 tells us, again Paul speaking to the elders at Ephesus, "You yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities and for those who were with me."

Isn't it interesting that the great Apostle Paul, who penned 13 books in the New Testament, was not above working with his hands? That he labored with his hands to provide for his physical and material needs so that he could be the apostle teaching and preaching and proclaiming the Gospel? He goes on to say, Acts 20, "I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak." You must also work with your hands. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

So Paul said when you’re working with your hands, you’re providing a means of giving to minister to the needs of others. And it’s better, you receive more blessing from working with your hands so that you have something to give to others than you do by even being on the receiving end. And that's really the spirit of what we read in Ephesians 4 verse 28, where the Apostle Paul says, "Let him who stole steal no longer. But rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need."

You see, working with our hands is the cure, the antidote to laziness, to stealing, and to uselessness. And that's why we read in the Proverbs chapter 21 that lazy people won't work with their hands. "The desire of the lazy man kills him," Proverbs says, "for his hands refuse to labor. He covets greedily all day long, but the righteous gives and does not spare." You see the difference there? Lazy people are always wanting to get. They want to be on the receiving end. They won’t work to give. They want to get. And ultimately, if they can't get what they want, that can even cause them to turn to stealing out of laziness. But people who are hard workers are willing to work with their hands so that they can have something to give to others.

So we read in First Thessalonians chapter 4, "We urge you," Paul says, "that you aspire to lead a quiet life, and to work with your own hands, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing." Now, this is serious business because Paul is not just saying this is something you ought to consider doing, to be hard at work with your hands in whatever tasks you have that require that. But he goes on to say in Second Thessalonians chapter 3, there were some in that church who were idle. They wouldn’t work with their hands. And Paul said, "Look at our example. We did not eat anyone's bread free of charge, but we worked with labor and toil night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you, to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. Do not be weary in doing good."

There are so many ways that a woman in the context of her home can use her hands. I made a list of some of those, and you will think of others: sewing and mending clothes, curtains, linens; cleaning dishes, cleaning clothing, cleaning children, cleaning toilets, cleaning floors, cleaning spills. There's always plenty to do with the hands. Picking up after the family; cooking, baking, food preparation; shopping; crafts that are used to make your home beautiful; painting, stenciling; gardening, planting, weeding, tending the garden, working with your hands; flower arranging, needlework; writing notes of encouragement. It's a way you can use your hands to minister grace to others. And by the way, start at home with those notes of encouragement.

Now let me ask you right now to stop and look at your hands. Just look at them. If you’re a Proverbs 31 woman or becoming one, your hands may not be model's hands. You may not have perfectly manicured nails. Your hands may never qualify to be on one of those ads asking whose hands are older. But let me ask you this: are they serving hands? Are they hands that you’re using to bless and to minister in practical ways to the needs of others? If they are, then though they may not be beautiful hands, they're hands like the Master's.

You see, Christ's hands were nailed to a cross. They were damaged, they were wounded. He endured that out of love, out of the heart of a servant for the sake of the Gospel, for the sake of the plan of redemption. And can I say that when you serve your family with your hands, when you work with your hands, when you clean and cook, whatever you do with your hands around your home, you’re doing it for the sake of the Gospel? You’re doing it so that your children may know what Jesus looks like, so that they may be drawn to Him, so that they may want to know Him. You’re representing, you’re adorning, you’re beautifying the Gospel when you work with those hands.

There's a wonderful word of encouragement in Second Chronicles chapter 15. The prophet came to King Asa. And Asa was a man who had a heart for God and he was seeking to establish reforms in the nation which desperately needed those reforms, but it was hard work. And it would have been easy for Asa to get weary in the work and to give up. And God sent a prophet to him to say what I want to say to you today. He said, "But you, King Asa, be strong, and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded." Let me say it again. Let me say it to you. But you, be strong, and do not let your hands be weak. For your work, if it's done as unto the Lord, it will be rewarded. It will.

Dana Gresh: Amen. I don’t know about you, but I needed that encouragement today. Work on the farm and work in the ministry, it seems to be never-ending. In fact, I’ve been telling Bob lately I feel like the tail is wagging the dog. I just can’t keep up with everything. There's always something to do and it can weigh me down. Can you identify?

The next time you’re weighed down by all you have before you, look at your hands. Consider everything they do in a day. And remember, they’re like the Master's hands. And you are an active part in His redemption story. That actually sends chills up my spine thinking that God is using you and me to display His story for all to see.

Back in the early 1800s, there was a man known for dependence on prayer and for caring for orphans. His name was George Mueller. I’ve always been so intrigued by this man's life. Now maybe you already know, but the Lord and His work were of supreme importance to George. Here's Nancy joined by Jim Elliff and John Piper telling part of this great man's story. Jim begins by sharing a verse that God put on George Mueller's heart: Psalm 81 verse 10.

Jim Elliff: And it said this: "Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it." God used this verse and this concept to lead George Mueller to believe God, to trust God for the money to actually take these orphans in and be able to supply them with everything they would need for life.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Even as he made plans to care for orphans, George Mueller continued to keep God's glory as his number one priority.

Guest (Male): The first and primary object of the work was, and still is, that God might be magnified.

John Piper: Now, I think the biggest surprise I got in reading the life of Mueller is how pervasive was his insistence that he was not doing orphan work mainly for orphans.

Guest (Male): The chief reasons for our establishing an orphan house are: one, that God may be glorified, should He be pleased to furnish me with the means, in its being seen that it is not in vain to trust Him and that thus the faith of His children may be strengthened. Number two, the spiritual welfare of the fatherless and motherless children. Number three, their temporal welfare.

John Piper: Now make no mistake, those three: the strengthening of the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ by watching my life and how I care for the orphans, the spiritual welfare of the orphans, the temporal welfare of the orphans—those three in that order was his life. Not the other way around. This is really a deep sense of calling on George Mueller. It was absolutely his passion.

Guest (Male): The first and primary object of the work was, and still is, that God might be magnified by the fact that the orphans under my care are provided with all they need only by prayer and faith, without anyone being asked by me, whereby it may be seen that God is faithful.

John Piper: He was deeply grieved that so many believers were harassed and distressed in mind and brought guilt on their consciences on account of not trusting the Lord.

Jim Elliff: He wanted to be a living illustration that God was everything He said He was. And I find that to be the most important aspect of George Mueller's life and the thing that we need to carry away more than anything else about this great man of God.

John Piper: He chose the orphans decisively, crucially, to display the trustworthiness of God in answering prayer. So let’s read it.

Guest (Male): It seemed to me best to be done by the establishing of an orphan house. It needed to be something which could be seen even by the natural eye. If I, a poor man, simply by prayer and faith, obtained without asking any individual the means for establishing and carrying on an orphan house, there would be something which with the Lord's blessing might be instrumental in strengthening the faith of the children of God.

Dana Gresh: George Mueller was a great hero of the faith. He was a man who believed deeply in God and trusted Him for all his needs. And this was evidenced through the work of George's hands. Just incredible. This Labor Day weekend, I hope you see that the work of your hands is just as valuable. And I hope you’re encouraged to know that what you do for a living matters to God.

For 25 years now, Revive Our Hearts has been bringing you the truth of God's Word for women. It’s been 25 years of reminding you of the freedom, the fullness, and the fruitfulness we have in Christ. 25 years of saying, "Yes, Lord." Did you catch that? We’ve reached a milestone around here: 25 years of ministry. And wow, it’s been such a joy.

It’s with grateful hearts that we can continue to invite the next generation of women to say, "Yes, Lord." To do that, we’re offering a new resource this month titled Devoted: Six Women of the Bible Who Said Yes, Lord. This book draws from Nancy's teaching to explore the lives of women like Anna, Sarah, and the woman at the well. It’s really an invitation to follow in the footsteps of ordinary women who lived lives devoted to the Lord. We’d love to send it to you when you donate any amount this month. To give and request your copy of Devoted, visit ReviveOurHearts.com or call us at 1-800-569-5959.

Next weekend, join us as we get super practical. We’re talking about three ordinary ways we can magnify the Lord in everyday life. And isn't that the kind of inspiration we all need? You’ll have to come back for that. Thanks for listening today. I’m Dana Gresh. We’ll see you next time for Revive Our Hearts Weekend. This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.