Junior Partners

For we are fellow workmen (joint promoters, laborers together) with and for God. (2 Corinthians 3:9, Amplified Bible) Dig Deeper: Ephesians 2:10; Proverbs 16:9

God paves the way for us to do what we ought to do, but at the same time our free choices are woven into the divine design. There is a mystery to this, and it is just as wrong to suggest "it's all God's doing" as it is to suggest "it's all my doing." We must work out what God works into our lives, and this includes our vocations. We plan, and pray, and strive, and work, but we must leave the results in God's hands.

In any calling worthy of the name, it is never merely human beings working; it is also God working. The sooner we swallow our humility pills and see ourselves as junior partners and co-laborers with God, rather than the only laborers on the scene, the sooner we will have a real grasp of work, vocation, and calling.

But here is the exciting news.

While doubtless God could have done it all by himself, instead he has chosen to involve us in his work! As Paul puts it, we are stewards of the mysteries of God, we are co-laborers in the vineyard, we are ministers of the grace of God, and we are neighbors shedding the love of God abroad to the world.

—Ben Witherington III in Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor

My Response: To be a more effective co-laborer with God, I might need to make the following changes: …

Thought to Apply:

A society in which vocation and job are separated for most people gradually creates an economy that is often devoid of spirit, one that frequently fills our pocketbooks at the cost of emptying our souls.—SAM KEEN (writer, professor, philosopher)