Not the Work of Man

Not the Work of Man

The work of man is the opposite of the work of God. It is of vital importance that God and His Spirit are allowed to do their work. He works both to will and to do. However, man is inclined to help with his human reasoning and good intentions.

For this reason there is a fair amount of the work of man among God’s people. Their intentions are good, but it turns out badly. All it does is disturb and cause division and confusion, and worst of all, it hinders and excludes God’s work.

In this sense of the word, it is also important to “mind your own business”! Otherwise it will cause trouble instead of being useful.

A person can easily think that he is led by the Holy Spirit without that being the case. This is precisely why we have received God’s words as a guideline and a control in all areas.

There are many human inventions that cause only harm, even though they appear to be reasonable and good in man’s eyes. You can safely reject them if they are not based on the authority of the words of the new covenant and the gospel.

It requires a great effort to be totally free from all the various works of man. You must be unusually devoted to God, devoted to the death of Christ, radically freed and separate from human considerations, and you must have small thoughts about yourself, etc.

The less there is of the work of man, the more there is of God’s work; but the more there is of the work of man, the less there is of God’s work.

The work of man and sin are inseparable. Just as we reject sin and should abstain from it, so we should reject and abstain from all works of man. Then the Spirit and God Himself will gain greater access.