pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: work


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For I am with You

Reading: Haggai 1:15b to 2:9

Remember when America was great?  A TV in every living room and a car in every driveway…  This was the ‘land of opportunity’, the place where hundreds of thousands came to make a better life for themselves.  Every parent’s dream was for their children to be better off than they themselves were.  It was a significant event when that first child from a family went off to college.  Remember the good old days?!

Haggai speaks to the people in a time just after the Babylonian exile has ended.  The people returning to Jerusalem and other communities remembered their homes and the temple in an idealized way.  All was beautiful and perfect in their mind’s eye.  But they return to a temple in ruins, to homes that show decades of neglect.  There is such a disconnect between what they envisioned and their reality that it is depressing and causes them to question all that matters, especially their faith.

We too can experience this remembering of a glorified past.  It can be physical – like when one returns to the old family home and thinks, “My this bedroom is small, I remember it being bigger”.  This can also happen in our faith.  Like those returning to Jerusalem, we too can return to our faith after a time of exile.  After we have been away from God for a while, we come to return and expect God’s magnificent presence to be there all the time.  We recall our ‘mountaintop’ faith moment and want to reclaim that feeling.  But our reality is that often times our faith must be rebuilt, just like the homes and temple that the people of Haggis’s had to rebuild.

The Lord speaks to Haggai as this large task has deflated the people.  “Be strong all you people of the land and work.  For I am with you…  I will fill this house with glory”.  These are our promises too.  Be strong, stay true to our faith, work at it.  God is with us.  God loves us.  God will fill each of us, all of us, with God’s glory.  God is faithful.  May we be too.


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Prayer Encourager

Reading: 2 Thessalonians 1: 11-12

Paul played many roles for his churches and those he shared the faith with.  He was most often a teacher.  The main goal of Paul’s life was to bring people to Jesus Christ.  He traveled all over the place preaching and teaching.  Paul would often offer remedial lessons, found in the form of his letters we find in the New Testament, that would refine his teaching, would fix errors in both thinking and practice, and would seek to resolve disputes within the churches and between individuals.

We see another of Paul’s roles today: prayer.  He is one who prays.  Paul prayed all the time for the churches he established, for churches already in existence, and for those he knew and was mentoring in the faith.  Through prayer, Paul often sought to encourage those who would read his letters.  Through prayer, Paul encouraged the good things about a church or person and sought to remind them if God’s hand at work among them.  In these ways Paul’s prayers were like compliments.  Not only were they positive and uplifting, but they also would spur the readers on to continue in the faith and to build up their faith.  Reminding them of what they did well led them to do it all the more.

We can also read Paul’s prayer today as an encouragement to our faith.  We can also pray this prayer for those in our lives who need encouragement.  To pray that we are “worthy of his calling” implies that we are indeed called.  Born a child of God, we have been called since birth.  To pray that we act “by his power” reminds us that we need to rely fully on God, not on ourselves.  To pray that God is present in fulfilling “every good purpose and every act prompted by our faith” implies an active and responsive faith, a faith lived out.  All of this leads to Paul’s conclusion: all of this done so that Jesus Christ may be glorified.  May it be so in our lives this day.


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Attitude 

Reading: Luke 17: 5-10

As Christians, our role is to love God and to love neighbor.  It is what we are called to do.  In loving, we are also often called to do for or to serve God and neighbor.  We usually do so willingly and obediently, so we understand Jesus’ teaching that doing so is simply our duty as Christians.  In serving our Master and Lord we should not expect extra thanks or special recognition.

Every once in a while we notice something at home or work or church that needs done.  It may not be our “job” but w notice it needs done, so we do it.  Some of the time, when we serve with good intentions, God blesses us.  For example, a couple of weeks ago I noticed that some of the windows at the church needed cleaned.  As I was getting ready to clean windows that evening, a man wandered up to the parsonage looking for an odd job to do.  I invited him to join me and our time together was wonderful.  We accomplished a hard task and we began a new friendship.  Such a blessing!

But sometimes we notice a job that needs done and we go about it grudgingly.  As we work, we run through the list of people whose job this really is or should be.  We may even become upset with them for not doing their job as we slave away to do what should have already been done.  Grudgingly, work, slave.  In this mindset, boy do we need an attitude adjustment!

Lord, when we are working grudgingly, change our hearts so we are willingly serving, being a faithful servant instead of an overworked slave.  Lord Jesus, help us to love and serve generously, following the example you set for us.  Thank you.


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Generous Living

Reading: Luke 16: 1-9

In today’s passage a manager is fired for poor job performance.  He has mismanaged the owner’s resources.  We do not know if he is incompetent or lazy as well, but we do know he is somehow being dishonest and is wasting the owner’s resources.  The shrewd manner in which he then acts would maybe rule out incompetent.  In a handful of quick transactions, he not only shores up his future, he also gains commendation from the owner.

If we are honest, there are times we too waste the company’s resources.  There are times when we check our Facebook or when we text back and forth solidifying our weekend plans or update our fantasy football lineup at work.  And there are other times when our mind simply drifts for a few minutes.  Some days we would really like to just lay our heads down on our desk and take a little nap.  If the boss notices these types of things a few times, we too could find ourselves unemployed.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to offer our best effort in all we do.  We are called to work joyously in all of our labors – to work as if we were working for the Lord.  Always putting in a good days effort is a witness to our faith.  It is about respect for others and being personally responsible.

Personal responsibility forms us another way as well.  In the parable Jesus offers advice on the use of our resources.  He says to be generous with our money – it will gain us friends.  This idea also extends to our time and talents.  We should be generous with these as well.  When we share what God has blessed us with to help others, we are building up a treasure in heaven as well.  Generous living is a blessing all around.


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Work and Grow

Reading: Psalm 23

In general Psalm 23 is optimistic.  There is a trust in God that flows through David’s writing.  It comes from experiencing God’s saving presence and from having an intimate relationship with God.  David’s opening line reveals his trust: I shall not want.  The next few verses tell of how God cares for him.

Does such a trust and faith come easily?  Is a positive outlook always easy to maintain?  Unfortunately the answer to these questions is ‘no’ for most of us.  To have a faith and trust like David’s takes time and effort.  To be in any good relationship, we must invest of ourselves.  To walk closely with God, we first must spend time with Him.  We do so by being daily in His Word, by worship attendance on a regular basis, by carving out time in our day for prayer.  It is hard to do all these things consistently because it is so easy to sleep in, to make something else the priority, to wake up one day and to realize it’s been a while since we spent any time with God.  To really build a solid relationship with God takes daily discipline.

We build trust much the same way.  When we allow God to be in control or when we turn our burdens over to Him, we experience His presence, guidance, direction, comfort.  Through these experiences we come to trust Him a bit more.  Then we are more willing to trust and do so more easily.  And trust grows.  We come to believe that His plans for us are good.  And trust grows.

David’s faith and trust grows to the point where he can confidently say that he fears no evil.  He knows God has him.  May we work and grow in our faith to experience the trust and faith that David lived out daily.


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Experience God

Reds, oranges, and yellows slowly fill the sky as the sun begins to break forth over the horizon.  At the end of the day, the occasional purple or blue may mix with the reds, oranges, and yellows as God says ‘good night’ and brings rest to the earth.  The beauty, power, and majesty we find in sunrises and sunsets is spoken in every language in every place on earth.  “Their voice goes out into all the earth”, declares the psalmist.

As a Youth growing up in Connecticut, I can remember going out early to a rural turkey farm early on Easter morning.  We would arrive when it was still dark.  It was always cold.  As we waited in only the calm sounds of nature, one could sense God was near.  Slowly the sun would creep up and begin to warm our silent faces, simply watching God’s handiwork unfold.  Once the sun was risen, we would join in song, prayer, and the Word for our Easter sunrise service.  The sunrise was always like God’s welcoming presence coming amongst us.

We were very intentional about awaiting God’s entrance and His presence on those mornings.  Sometimes life can just become so busy that opportunities like this are gobbled up.  We can work and work and work and become so consumed that we miss the beauty of God’s voice calling out to us as it echoes through nature.  We miss those still moments where God is trying to consume us with His power and beauty and majesty so that He can refresh and renew our spirits and our souls.  It is a shame we so often miss it.

“The heavens declare the glory of God” reminds the psalmist.  May we more often make the time to experience the things of God.  Let it begin today.

Scripture reference: Psalm 19: 1-6


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His Gifts, His Call

Paul writes to the Corinthians concerning the many gifts that the Holy Spirit has blessed them with.  In today’s passage Pauli stressing that all gifts are equally given and that all are to be used for the same purpose: to do the will of God in the world.  He also emphasizes the idea that we each are uniquely gifts to do our own special work for the kingdom of God.  Lastly, Paul points out the fact that our gifts are given to be used.

It is often said that where our passions meet God’s desires for our world is the place our gifts are best used.  Where our gift as a teacher or healer or encourager or interpreter of tongues fills a need in someone’s life or in a ministry is just the place God calls us to use the gift that the Spirit gave us.

We mus be careful to be aware of, to recognize, and to give the glory to God for the gifts we have.  Our gift is like all else we have in life – a gift from God.  It is something that God placed within each of us through the Holy Spirit.  Our thankful response should be to use our gift for God.  We must recognize that God intended our gifts to be used for the good of all of God’s children, for all of the people in our lives, not just for some.  Each of our gifts is intended to make the world a better place.  And in the end, all must point back to God.  It is He who gave the gift and it is really God who is at work accomplishing all that results from us using the gift.  To God be all the glory.

Sometimes the call to put our gift to work can be a scary thing.  It may involve giving up a career or maybe moving to a new place.  It may involve doing something in your community that is a bit uncomfortable.  We must remember that He who calls is really the only one in control anyway.  He will be with us in the response as well as in the call.  May we be ever faithful to the One who calls.

Scripture reference: 1 Corinthians 12: 1-11


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Work for God

Do you work for God or for yourself?  In the reading of this psalm, if you work for yourself, you are working in vain.  Since the beginning of humanity, it has been God’s intent for us to work.  Right away He set Adam to work caring for the garden.  As ones created in the image of God, we are made as creators and laborers.  Our work is for a purpose and that purpose is greater than ourselves.

When we do our work apart from or without God, it is in vain.  When our work becomes addictive or compulsive or all-consuming, it is far from God.  On the other extreme, when our work is lazy or shoddy or resentful, this too is far from God.  When our labor is all about us and cares nothing for God or those around us, then it is easy for it to become these bad things.

Instead our work must be done for God.  The purpose of our labor needs to be aligned with God.  On a basic level our work must provide for ourselves and for our loved ones.  But it must also bless those around us.  Part of this idea again goes back to how we work.  When we are joyful, hard-working, honest, encouraging, supportive, and so on, we bless those we work with.  The other part is that the fruits of our work become the tangible ways in which we bless those in need.

For some, our ‘work’ is school or what one does in retirement.  The goal is still the same: to honor and bring glory to God through how we ‘work’.  Each day may God and His purposes be the focus of our labor.  Each day may we bless others through our labor and the fruit of our hands.

Scripture reference: Psalm 127


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Always at Work

God is ever-present and all-knowing.  God creates all and is in all.  He works sometimes in surprising and unmistakable ways and sometimes it is hard to see His presence.  In the psalm God is praised for always being present, for always being gracious, loving, and just.

Today’s psalm represents God’s activity in our lives from the beginning to the end.  The writer uses an acrostic of the Hebrew alphabet to represent this idea.  He begins with “alpha” and ends with “tav” – equivalent to A-Z for us.  In the psalm he recounts all of the reasons we have to praise God – His works and righteousness, His grace and compassion, His faithfulness and justice, His laws and wisdom, and the covenant He keeps with His people.  For all of this, praise is lifted up.

God continues to offer all of this and more to us.  God continues to be active in the world.  As time unfolded, Jesus became the new covenant as He offered Himself in sacrifice to defeat sin and death so we could gain eternal life.  As we look back over our lives, from the beginning to where we are now, we can see God’s hand at work.  Sometimes His hand is active and easy to see.  At other times it is hard to see at all.  Yet even then we know He was present with us.  From the promises in the scriptures to our experiences in life, we know God is always at work.

In times of uncertainty or trial, it can be hard to see God at work or to feel His presence.  Sometimes another may see something we do not so it is often helpful to share our experiences with one another believer.  In the end, we know we can always look back and see His handprints.  In this we can always trust. For this, we say thanks be to God!

Scripture reference: Psalm 111


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Expressions of His Love

The journey of faith is a journey to grow more and more like Christ.  It is a journey that seeks to emulate the One who was without sin.  Our pursuit of being made into the image of Christ is an endless pursuit.

Paul reminds us today that we are to act toward one another as Christ acted toward us.  We are to treat one another in love.  We are to offer of ourselves.  We are to forgive freely.

Paul offer us a list of ‘don’ts’ followed by a ‘why’.  Don’t speak lies – speak truth to strengthen the body of Christ.  Don’t sin in anger – keep Satan at bay.  Don’t steal – work so that you have something to offer those in need.  Don’t talk coarsely – speak good things to build one another up.  Each ‘why’ is how we can become more like Christ.

Ultimately though, we will say unkind things, we will allow sin into out lives, we will take from others.  Out of His great love for us through, Jesus has paid the price for our sins.  Through His death and resurrection Jesus offers us forgiveness.  This wonderful grace of God makes us new every moment.  This deep love that God has for us is what draws us to faith.

As we continue to grow in Christ, our faith becomes more and more evident in how we talk, in our actions, and in how we live our lives.  All of these things are expressions of Christ’s love alive in us.  Today, may we grow to be more and more like Christ through how we love those we meet.

Scripture reference: Ephesians 5: 25-32