All of this is the true work that God is calling us to. God is calling us to bear His image. His works are true goodness and life, and He is calling us to learn from Him the ways of living that will be true wisdom and goodness.

We cannot cheat this path. We cannot expect that we have the blessings that come to the one who does the true work if we do not do it.

God is declaring to all of us what the true work is. That it is to walk in the light. It is to know God, in a true and sincere way—not living by the wisdom of men and what they say of God, but to truly learn of Him ourselves through His Word and Spirit alone. It is to walk in a renewed nature in our minds, spirits, attitudes, and desires. It is to allow God’s Spirit within to search out the true nature, attitude, beliefs, and spirit of our ways. Holiness is about getting at what is truly good.

God is setting this path before us, calling us all to this true work. This work of substance and meaning. And we have so much around us that is cutting this great work far short of what it is meant to truly be. Yet for all of us, we need to steadily follow God past all of these things, into a true worthiness and work. For God reveals that it is only the one who sets about this true work who will enter His Sabbath Rest in Heaven.

Work is far more than just labor, it is the entire summation of all we think, believe, value, and do. And our work as Christians is to do the true work of seeking true wisdom, goodness, light, and life. Our works manifest who we are, what we value, and the value of us.

It is the one who truly works with God who will have true rest from God.

One of the great evils Christians do today is to say that this rest is automatically theirs though they do not do the works worthy of it. Yet for all of us, it is the one who works the works of righteousness and godliness, the true nature of them and not a mere pretense of them, who will become truly righteous and godly, and enter into their Master’s rest. “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” (Mt 25:23)