1 Corinthians15:58

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:58

It would be so easy to seperate my work here into two chuncks, one for my employer and one for Jesus. As a matter of fact that is what my first thought was when I sat to write this Blog today. Hey I work for the Lord here and and ignore the fact that I also do my regular work. I was also thinking of how I could write about how I just get so tired of some of the quarks of this place and the people that I work with. That frustration most days has to be held in check or I will just lose it. But then I had time to think, they are not seperated. As a matter of fact they are intricately related.

I am one with Jesus Christ. If I identify myself to Him, calling Him Lord and Savior, then we are eternally joined. This becomes inseperable and no matter where or what or why, He is with me and I Him. So I can not rightful and ligitimately give one peice to the Lord and another to my employer. So I must be bond by my faith and as the scripture tells us, I must stand firm (in my faith) and give myself fully (to whatever I am doing) to the Lord.

As I reflected I went back over occasions in the last few days when in my head I was just cursing out my boss or co workers. Thinking of things that I would say if just given the chance. Oh if I could really tell them what I think. One or two occasions I came close in an actual verbal response. But I thought further. Where would this be coming from? Yes it would be great to tell the egomaniac that he is just that, but who would that serve? It would be simple to chastise an employee, but would that represent Jesus in my life? Trust me, the fact that I am even thinking in this way is proof to me that The Holy Spirit is still working in my life. A few years back I wouldn't have even paused and I might have already been fired or moved because of my quick mouth.

On the other hand I could look at just the work for the Lord and apply this scripture only to that. That would be missing a whole lot of the reality of the situation. I could sit back and only reflect on the good and easy things and never really be giving myself fully to anything. See again, if we seperate the when and where we miss the entire picture. Our lives, our committment to Jesus Christ is an all or nothing thing. No half way on this one sorry to say. Not that it will, or that I can be perfect but I must press to get it all included in the picture.

Here where this begins to pay off a bit. People notice and Christ can then work through you in imeasurable ways. Wich is better, that I can weather a verbal storm from some other broken person or that I got to get my pride all puffed up and tell them off? Which one would have no value to the Lord, no real value to anything? But holding fast to the values of a Christian, letting the Holy Spirit speak before you do. Wlaking like Jesus is standing right there next to you and will tap you on the shoulder at the first thought of something evil. That is where we should be.

The fruit of this is many. We will never know what the outcome will be from each time we don't play into degrading conversations of another at the coffee pot. What the outcome will be from keeping humility in the face of adversity. What it will be to be the Christian in the group, the goody two shoes that doesn't do this or that. It won't matter because we know that we do not labor in vain.

So I won't seperate the work, regardless of what the work is, parent, husband, Pastor, Elder, Transportation Manager, whatever it may be, as all this work is the work of my life in Christ Jesus. It is the work that God the Father has assigned me to and in that I should only seek to glorify Him by it. Anything else and I must evaluate what I am doing.

Lord Jesus, may always be reminded of your Spirit Dwelling in me and working through me. May I not deviate from my calling to glorify your name. May my life and my Spirit be one and may they continue to move closer and closer in uunity until the day that I die. Amen.