It is _work_—work with all the self-denial that accompanies steady work.
It is work _for_ the Lord. When we say that a father works for his
family, or a servant for his master, it does not mean that such an one
simply goes about his own business, but it does mean that he has a
particular person in view, and that he is working for him. We are such
poor, frail creatures that there is a constant tendency to admit bye
motives in our work. I know how hard it is to preserve a single eye to
the glory of God. One’s own reputation and the great pleasure of one’s
own success have a constant tendency to introduce false motives. What we
want is to lose sight of self altogether, and to remember that if we are
doing the work _of_ the Lord, we are doing it _for_ the Lord.
It is work _from_ the Lord. It is the work to which the Lord has
appointed each of us. When God called Barnabus and Paul, He said,
“Separate them for the work whereunto I have called them.” {59a} Now we
are not called to the Apostleship, but I believe there is not an
individual amongst us who is not called by God to a certain work in His
service. The Church of God is said to be “compacted by that which every
joint supplieth.” {59b} There is not, therefore, a joint in the whole
body that is not to supply something. All who are in Christ Jesus are
the children of God, and all are called to work in His service, the
strong man in the fulness of his strength, or the suffering invalid laid
low with broken health.
This, then, being the character of the work of the Lord, let us turn to
the encouragement which God has given, and the root from which it
springs.