Blessings Where We See Curses
Matthew 24:45-51, CEB - “Who then are the faithful
and wise servants whom their master puts in charge of giving food at the right
time to those who live in his house? Happy are those servants whom the master finds
fulfilling their responsibilities when he comes. I assure you that he will put them in charge
of all his possessions. But suppose
those bad servants should say to themselves, My master won’t come until later. And suppose they began to beat their fellow
servants and to eat and drink with the drunks? The master of those servants will come on a
day when they are not expecting him, at a time they couldn’t predict. He will cut them in pieces and put them in a
place with the hypocrites. People there will be weeping and grinding their
teeth.
We all
have work to do. When we’re young, it’s schoolwork and for many, chores. We graduate.
Maybe we go to college where our work is more schoolwork and possibly a
side job. At some point though, our formal
schooling is over and we begin a different kind of work. Even those who start a family and make the
choice quit their job to raise children have work, perhaps more work than most
jobs outside the home. After the
children are gone and all the others retire, most find other work. They volunteer. They help their adult children and dote on
grandchildren. They take up a hobby that they’ve been thinking about but never
had time while they held a formal “job.”
Many elderly people who can no longer do the physically and mentally
demanding work they did earlier in their lives seem to find ways to keep
working at something. They find ways to
keep working. Our work may change over the course of our lifetimes, but we
always have work to do.
Quite
often, I have observed what happens when people choose not to do the work they
have been given. I’m not talking vacations
or sabbaticals or transition times. Those
are all healthy ways of making sure we can keep working. I’m talking about people who choose to stop
doing their work permanently. It can
happen at any stage. Children who give
up on their school work often flounder for the rest of their lives. People who quit or lose their jobs and choose
to stop working altogether lose their sense of purpose and connection to the
world. Even many people who retire and
don’t discover their post-career work struggle with the same issues of purpose
and connection.
It seems that having work to do is generally
good for us even though we don’t often feel that way. I often find myself fantasizing
about a “someday” when I will no longer have work to do. I even occasionally have days now when I
rebel and refuse to do my work. I also thoroughly
enjoy short periods of time of “days off” or vacation and my “work” is to
intentionally do nothing. But I’m realizing
more and more that the work I’ve been given to do is a gift. Even the work that I do for others often does
more for me than it does for them. I’m
not always aware of this in the moment, but I’m aware of this truth right
now. Faithfulness in our work in the
world is good for us.
Maybe the “weeping and gnashing of
teeth” Jesus spoke about in the passage above is more of a “self-inflicted wound”
than a punishment for those who chose to interrupt their faithfulness. I don’t know for sure. What I do know is having faithfulness to
perform does more for us than simply pleasing God, although Jesus assures us God
is pleased. The ways that Jesus teaches
us to live are really the best way to live – for us, for our families, for our
communities, and for the world. Go
figure.
Question: How have
you been blessed by your faithfulness to God and other relationships that you
are in?
Prayer: O God,
sometimes we begin to think that the work we do is a curse. Forgive us.
Give us eyes to see it the way you do.
You are pleased in your faithfulness to us. May we be pleased in our faithfulness to You
and each other. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Spend a
little extra time praying for the members of your household today. If you live alone, pray for the people in
your extended family.
Song: The Weight |
Featuring Ringo Starr and Robbie Robertson | Playing For Change | Song Around
The World
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