From May of 2007 to June of 2008 we worked with 192 volunteers from 41 different church congregations to build a home that we could use when we are back in the United States . It was the most physically demanding time of our lives and in many ways, very spiritually demanding as well. Here’s some of the spiritual lessons we learned through the process:
Lesson #1: To know God — work along side of Him.
You can not really get to know someone by just watching a movie together or seeing them once a week in a church service. If you want to get to know someone then work together. People have told me that they might attend the same church congregation for 20 years, but it was not until they went on a missions trip together, where they worked side by side, that they really learned who each other was. They also learned to see God’s presence in each other.
Likewise, if you want to learn about who God is, then you must join Him in His work.
“My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.
John 5:17
Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, for…
Matthew 11:29
I am with you always, until the end of the world
Matthew 28:20
When Jesus said that He would be with us always, the context was the Great Commission. That is, that as you obey me and go into all the world, making disciples of all nations, then I will be with you.
If you want to know God more, be about His work. Things like hospital visitation, ministering to widows and orphans, helping someone in need in your neighborhood, getting His Word to the ends of the Earth. All of these and many more are ways that you can ‘ work with the Father ‘ and get to know Him better. You won’t come to know God more by watching a football game for example.
