“—We ought to obey God rather than man.”–Acts 5:29
In yesterday’s message I said, as I have so often, “Success is simply discovering the will of God and doing it”. The key to success for any church is that the members each do just that. Every member has a God-given job description and that is where their focus should be. If we each do what we should there is no way we can fail. However, doing what you should doesn’t mean trying to do everything you can. You might have the ability to do something, but if you don’t have the assignment you are doing something you shouldn’t. I recently read an article that illustrates what I’m talking about.
Usually when we think about disobedience we think only of not doing what we were commanded to do, but there is something else that should be considered. Sometimes we get ourselves in trouble by doing things we haven’t been told to do. I read about an employer who once fired a man because of this very thing. Here’s the story:
“He was continually doing things that I never told him to do,” he complained. A friend who heard of the matter went immediately and employed the discharged man, remarking that it would be refreshing to have an employee who would go beyond his orders. All went well for a time, when one day the man was ordered to take some boxes from one side of the warehouse and put them in the furnace room under the factory. The man carried out the order, and, seeing that there were boxes on the other side of the room, he removed them also. Some of the latter contained explosives, and as a result the factory was demolished. If we understand that God knows more about us than we do ourselves, we must be content to let him set the limits. Men who have attempted to improve upon the commandments of God have invariably found that the sequel was disaster.
Think about it!
