Rom 12:11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord . . .
Every man has much business to attend to in this life. Our Lord was a very young man when He said, “I must be about my Father’s business.” He said to His disciples in John 9:4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. Two things are striking with regard to our Savior’s business in this world. He was relentless in the pursuit of it, and it was always that which pleased His Father, that He was engaged in.
What about us? Perhaps you are thinking that it cannot be so with us because we have such great earthly responsibilities. We will dedicate as much time and effort to the Lord as we can, but we have responsibilities as the head of our household, as a father, as a husband, as an employee, as citizens of the place we live. It is overwhelming. What if I told you that our sole business in this life is to honor and glorify God? In all that we do in all of these roles, we are to “serve the Lord?”
The phrases “not slothful in business” and “serving the Lord” are not two separate exhortations, but are the same one. The second phrase defines our one role, and the first, how we are to conduct ourselves in it. Our business in this life as fathers, as husbands, as employees, as citizens and as church members, is to serve the Lord. And we are not to be slothful in it, that is, slow and loath to do it.
Fervent in spirit is also the manner in which we are to do our business. The word for “fervent” means “to boil with heat, to be zealous.” How our Lord Jesus epitomizes this kind of service. The business the Father gave Him to do was to give Himself, in life and in death, to save His people from their sins. His business was to glorify the Father in the redemption of His people. To magnify the law of God and make it honorable by fulfilling it in every jot and tittle as our Righteousness, and to die under the curse of the law, redeeming us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.
Let us pray for grace to honor Him wherever we are, and whatever we are doing. This is our business. Trust Him, worship Him, commit to Him, serve Him diligently and with heart. His business was all that He did, and ours is to tell forth Him and all that He did. To “go and preach (Mark 16:15).” To be His ambassadors in this world (2Cor 5:20). To fight the good fight of faith (1Tim 6:12). To bear much fruit for His glory (John 15:8). Oh for grace not to entangle ourselves in the affairs of this life, that we may please Him Who hath chosen us to be a soldier (2Tim 2:4). -- Chris Cunningham
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