Recently, I have been considering my priorities in light of a Scripture passage that I was reminded of at a recent church service. I Corinthians 3:13 says, "Every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is." Often when I am deciding what I should do in a day's time, I determine it based on several factors that we all use--what is the most urgent or important thing that I need to do today? A question that I have been focusing on recently is the one that this Scripture passage brings to light and that is, "will this activity I am planning today, stand the test of fire?" This passage apparently teaches that our works will be tried by fire, and only some of our works will make it through the test.
When I think through my previous day's activities, I have to wonder if some of the activities I chose to do will stand the test of fire. Works that will stand the test of fire will not necessarily mean only "spiritual" tasks such as reading my Bible or praying. Rather, those enduring works would be the things that God has asked me to do no matter how temporary they may seem to be. Changing the baby's diaper or making a meal for my family can be a work that will stand the test of fire because it is something that God has called me to do.
On the other hand, Martha in the Bible was doing ordinary tasks, and her works did not stand the test of fire. Why was it that her preparing of a meal, which would seem legitimate, did not stand the test of fire? I suppose we may never know the full reason for why her work did not make the test because we do not know her motives when she was preparing the meal. Maybe she was preparing an extravagant meal when her budget didn't allow that. Perhaps she was working to impress Jesus instead of listening to Him. Maybe she didn't realize that when Jesus was there, it was the time to serve hot dogs and keep it simple so that she could have time for Him. Perhaps it was none of the above. I can see why Martha wanted to prepare such a nice meal because I would have thought of doing the same thing if Jesus were coming to my house to eat.
There is no way we can fully know why Jesus didn't approve of Martha's seemingly legitimate activity, but I believe we can know which of our activities will stand the test of fire. Many of our activities are obviously things that will burn up--and we don't want to be honest enough to face that fact so we keep going about it every day. Other activities may not be so clear--my standards for how clean my house should be, how well I maintain my yard, how much I need to earn, or how many cheerios I allow to accumulate in my child's car seat! That is why we are told to walk in the Spirit. God's Spirit will tell us what we should be involved in if we take the time to listen and if we walk closely enough to Him. Most of the time, I think our works fall short because we fail to know God's will in those areas.
Today as I plan my day, I should first focus on eliminating those things that I already know will not stand the test of fire. Then on those areas where I just don't know, I need to walk close to God so I will know what He wants me to do.
At the end of the day, I can have peace about how I spent my time whether I spent it in the obviously "spiritual" activities or whether my mundane activities became spiritual because I was walking in the Spirit. Since all my works will be tried by fire, it is insignificant what others think, or what is customary, or what has always been done a certain way, or how awkward I may appear to others. Rather, what is it that God wants me to do and will I choose to do it His way today?
My husband wrote a great piece on holiday time management. If you are interested in three ideas for redeeming the time during the holidays, read his article.
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