“So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless” (1 Corinthians 15:58, NLT).

Let’s put the two parts of this verse together. Be strong and immovable, and work enthusiastically for the Lord because what you do for the Lord is never useless. We know there’s such a thing as our works burning up as chaff because it was not work done for the Lord, but maybe in our own strength for our own reasons, not the Lord’s good reasons.

“For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed by fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each one’s work. If anyone’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet only so as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:11-15, NASB).

We need to make sure we are working for the Lord, and not for ourselves. We need to do His work, in His strength. How can we do it in His strength? That goes to the other part of the verse: be strong and immovable. How? How can we be unmoved? I like to think of the vine and the branches. Jesus is the vine. He’s definitely rooted and grounded in love and He will not be moved. Nothing can move Him. We are the branches. As long as we remain in the vine, we can’t be moved from our place. And we have His strength because Jesus is the vine holding us up. He’s nourishing us, giving us what we need (think of sap being pulled up through the vine to go to the branches.)

He does it all. We just rest in our fixed position on the vine. The fruit is produced because of the nourishment and health of the vine. We just bear it; His life coursing through us produces it. We just reach out our arms to the sun. And in that way, in His immovable strength, we can work enthusiastically because nothing we’ll do will be useless. Give your independence up and let His life be yours. Offer your life to Jesus and let Him determine your work, your purpose, your usefulness.