Apprentices learn joy of a good job
Published 12:00 am Saturday, July 10, 2010
As Christians we are to be Christ-like.
Philippians 2:14-16 “Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent children of God, above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life.”
Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
Ephesians 6:7-8 “With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.”
When I first became a Christian, I worked for a trailer factory in Idaho. We called it “slave labor,” as no matter how much you got done, it was never enough for them. I started asking God to give me a new job. I even had the church to pray and ask God for a new job. Well, He did. I got a new job not by leaving the trailer factory, but by getting my attitude changed. In doing a good job for Christ we also are better witnesses for Christ. It also made me a better person to work around. Later on when many of us were laid off, I was one of the first to be called back early to do set ups before they called the rest back to work. By making ourselves enjoy whatever we do, it makes it easier to do a job Christ will be pleased with. You see, as a Christian, we really don’t work for the man. We work for Christ.
If we get it in our heads we are working for Christ, we will do a better job, We will enjoy the work better because it is for Christ, and God will reward us by moving up the ladder in the right way, not the way the world moves up the ladder (cutting each other’s throat). I see too many wasting most of their lives away wishing for Friday to come. With that attitude, most won’t do the job that would be pleasing to God. Hey, if you want a new job, a job you will enjoy better than the one you already have, let Christ change the way you look at whatever it is you are doing now.
The Rev. O.M. Wilcox