Aweikinin 29/10/2014

From Romans 12:1-11

H,

Tedium sets in easily over the simpler tasks. It is easy to get into that mind frame that considers work as ‘beneath’ and ‘above’. The work we think we are better than is beneath us and the work we consider suitable to our talents is above par and serves some higher purpose. I have found myself living that lie recently.

The truth is all work is above. There is something more than a work-life balance in Christianity. We are told to do all work toward God. We are told He is the employer above. We are told to ask for grace to do it well and with honour. We are told to do it with the right heart or not to do it at all. There is no tedium in beneath  work when all work is seen as part of seeking things above everything else. The balance in God is always wholehearted commitment to Him. The overt showing of that is seen in the way we live our daily lives. Love is a verb because life is a verb also. It is not lived in definitions but in actual living. The life of the mind is a glorious thing but it is only the subtext for an actual life of the life. We are told to guard our hearts because what we store up in there will manifest in how we live.

Speaking of “storing things up”, one of the reasons work for so many is a burdensome load is that it is all done for money. This is not what God recommends. This is not what He commands when you begin to follow Him. It is not that we cannot find joy in the most seemingly menial task if we find joy in God first. It is that if our whole work-life trajectory is based on the ‘toys’ we must have and the occupation is for that end only. We are not in a faith that looks for a place to fit in. We are of that kingdom that seeks to put the real light out into the world. The gospel is a cross we bear. Our decisions will cost us something but that thing is so superficial when we compare it with things eternal. Of course, right now it does not feel that way. Fear and fear of failure rule the roost. It is time we re-assess what we do, everything we do, in the light of the path we took, so narrow and scenic, when we said yes to be molded into eternal forms.

In the end, when we go about our daily tasks, most of our life will be spent doing some work or the other, we must look up at the one who really runs things. There is only above work with that thought in your heart. We approach it as worship and it becomes joy. There is only the certainty of a material cul de sac if we look at it any other way.