Recently I’ve been thinking about life in light of the Passion of Christ which we commemorate at this time each year.
I’ve been wondering, what can we do for him after all he’s done for us?
There’s an answer to that question in St. Paul’s instructions, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men … .” (Colossians 3:23) Do whatever you do as though you were doing it for him. Paul doesn’t say so but the context – he’s talking to slaves about the sort of service they render to their Masters – implies that this applies to any task no matter how mundane or, even injust, it might be perceived, and makes no allowance for the fact that it may be work for a person you’d rather not be working for. So, the instructions, to be more specific, are “Do whatever you do, for whomever you do it, as though you are doing it for the Lord … .”
When we approach life with this attitude a lot of things change. Most of all, our view of ourselves changes. Regardless of the situation we are servants, employees of the resurrected Jesus, Lord of the Universe; Agents of the Kingdom of Christ in the among the Kingdoms of this world. In my dictionary that defines Diplomat; more precisely Ambassador. The choices I make; the attitude with which I approach even the most mundane assignments; my conduct among my colleagues and superiors; the quality of what I do are all transformed by this dignifying definition of my role in the world. My life is now recognized as having timeless, lasting importance. I live a though I were highly influential; a purposeful personal presence God has deliberately created.
This transformation in my perception of why I do what I do and whom I serve has far-reaching results.
1. It Dignifies Every Moment.
Every moment is dignified by our awareness that it has been given to us by the Supreme Sovereign for his purposes.
The long version of the “Serenity Prayer” pleads for a Spirit that, “enjoys one moment at a time.” At first this seems impossible. How do you enjoy a moment when it’s passed before you’ve even had a chance to ask, let alone answer, “are we havin’ fun yet.” Moments are, by their very nature, transient things. They’re gone before you know they’re here. The Teacher, whose view of life is expressed in Ecclesiastes, describes how someone may have learned the art of “enjoying one moment at a time.” “Then I realized,” the Teacher writes, “that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.” (Ecclesiastes 5: 18 – 20) The last sentence, “He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart,” captures the quality of someone who is “enjoying one moment at a time.” He’s enjoying a particular moment because he’s “occupied with gladness of heart.” We have a sort of “chicken or egg” matter here. Which comes first the “moment” or the “enjoying” of it? The Teacher’s answer, is that the “enjoying” comes first. There’s no need to even consider the moment. And such a person doesn’t. “He seldom reflects on the days of his life.” He’s not forever analyzing every moment to see if he’s “enjoying” it. There’s no need to wonder whether we’ve enjoyed it. Every moment has been enjoyable because it has been drawn up into the overarching all enhancing joy of being someone God has trusted with life.
2. It Dignifies the Task
Of course this disposition dignifies the task whatever that task may be. The Ecclesiastes Man “finds satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun … .”
The Community we live in chooses what they call a “Showcase Home” every year. This is a home that is not only exquisite in its own right. It’s a stage for the latest in “distinctive” interior and exterior design innovations. Last year the home selected as the “Showcase” was on one of my running routes. I ran by it at least once a week for several months. At first I didn’t know what was being done to this already magnificent, palatial residence. Every imaginable trade was represented in the flurry of work being done around it. Painters were there every day for weeks. A playground apparatus fit for a neighborhood park was built in the side yard. Full grown trees were trucked in and planted. Stately trees already there were exquisitely trimmed. Shrubbery and flowers were planted. A large rather utilitarian looking natural gas valve was replaced with a brightly polished bronze device that would pass for a work of modern art in any museum. Sidewalks were built. A temporary, fully grown, potted hedge was planted around a neighboring house. Finely designed, polished ground lighting fixtures were installed along the face of this hedge. These craftsmen were doing their best work. Of course it could be argued that they knew it would be put on display and for people with the money to pay for such skilled craftsmanship. It was, as they say, good marketing. But this was the “Showcase” house. There had to be a bit of pride in simply being part of such a project.
Dorothy Sayers, one of the first women to be granted a degree from Oxford university; well known in English literary circles for her detective novels and stories, as well as her later religious plays and books including scholarly translations of Dante’s “Inferno” and “Purgatorio,” has written about the Task. “I ask that (work) should be looked upon – not as a necessary drudgery to be undergone for the purpose of making money, but as a way of life in which the nature of man should find its proper exercise and delight and so fulfill itself to the glory of God. That it should, in fact, be thought of as a creative activity undertaken for the love of the work itself; and that man, made in God’s image, should make things, as God makes them, for the sake of doing well, a thing that is well worth doing.”
3. It Dignifies the People We Serve and Serve With
Perhaps the best way to make this point is to ask a couple of questions.
If you were given the choice would you want to work with the person for whom every task is a labor of love to his or her Lord? If you needed someone to do something for you would you hire this sort of person? Would it make any difference if you knew that such people believe that they’re doing something for their Lord every time they serve you?
Jesus said, “Whenever you do something for someone in need you are doing it for me.” (Matthew 25: 40)
Incidentally, Jesus said that, at the end of time, he will say to such people, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34)
Kind of dignifying all around wouldn’t you say …
Godspeed in it …
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