Work In —> Work Of
As Christian men, at any given point on any given day in our lives, there are two dynamics at work.
The first is the work of our hands. This is anything we put our time and energy into. What your hands typically do, engage in, and work at. This can be from a function at your job to hugging your wife to putting a golf ball. Your continual activity, what you do, and what you create from it, with it..
The second is the work in our hearts. While our hands might be idle at various times of the day, the work in our hearts is ongoing. This work is either being driven by the Holy Spirit or the unholy flesh. It’s one or the other. Both create a work, if you will—something that is coming out of us. Good or bad. Pure or evil. Constructive or destructive. God-honoring or self-absorbed.
The work of our hands is going to always be directly determined by the work in our hearts. So, what we allow to have passage to our hearts via our input and intake is crucial for what we desire to produce with our hands.
Take an inventory of what your hands have produced in recent days. If you want change, it’s not so much about simply deciding to do something different with your hands, as in “I blew it yesterday, I’ll try harder today.” If it were that easy, to just will a change, we’d all be saints by now. If we want change, the heart must begin the process, then the hands will follow.
So, how do we do this? It starts by praying for wisdom and guidance to protect what goes into your heart. Asking Christ to filter your input, to stand guard over your heart. Yes, that is very spiritual, but that is ultimately what produces everything physical.
Work in our hearts —> Work of our hands
Passage to our hearts —> Produce with our hands
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. —Proverbs 4:23 NIV
1 comment
Frankie Rainey November 19, 2013
AMEN! Excellent reminders, Robert!