Do Work

"Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider her ways and be wise!"
Proverbs 6:6

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This is my third year in high school. I really have begun to hate work.

I don't know how other people feel. I really have never heard anyone else in any of my classes tell me that they love to work. Who likes doing long, arduous, tedious tasks all day, then going to activities later, and then staying up even later than that so that they can finish everything with a clean mind about the matter? No, I really have come to despise it.

But there's just one problem with this. There is a few, actually. For one, hating this work doesn't make it all go away. I still have to do it. Secondly, there is a Biblical problem with this mindset. If I don't work, then I do not rightly fulfill my purpose for Christ in this world.

 Why is it so hard? How is it that these necessary tasks are so painful? Is there something wrong with us, that perhaps other people might not have issues with?

In Genesis 3:14 it says that "And unto Adam he said, 'Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree which I command you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground for your sake. In sorrow you shall eat of it all of the days of your life." So therefore in one sense the reason why work is hard is related to why there are earthquakes and tornadoes and death, among other things--due to original sin.

So if it is from original sin, what are we supposed to do about work? Are simply supposed to grind on bitterly, deploring it as a loathsome yet necessary duty?

No--as Christians we have no excuse.

We know this because in Collosians 3:23-24 it says "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." So okay, we know that we need to do work really well and vigorous, and we know that we are doing it for Christ. AND we know that doing so will bring us reward.


In Proverbs God tells us to "Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider her ways and be wise!" Now this, coupled with the verse from Genesis, might seem a little unfair. Sluggard? Me, lazy? But what does this mean? In what way do ants work?

I find the way that this verse is phrased to be quite interesting: "Consider her ways and be wise."
If you think about ants, and the lives they lead, one might be tempted to call them futile. Empty. Without purpose. But that isn't true--because purpose is defined by God. Those ants work and live exactly as they were designed and called by God to do, consistently, and we must do no differently.

So then, the question we must ask ourselves is this: For what purpose do we work?

In I Corinthians 10:31 it says that "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God." So not only do we have a means of work, and a description, but now we have a purpose. We are to do everything, including work, with but one purpose in mind--to do so for the glory of God.

And that is all that really matters.

I know not who if any shall read, but I am pleased to know it is well to write for Christ.

Hold my Hand

"For I the LORD your God will hold your right hand, saying unto thee, 'Fear not; I will help you.' " -Isaiah 41:13

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A while ago I had been doing some praying about this year, and all of the hundreds upon hundreds of very large and important things which I would have to be juggling this year, and, being overwhelmed, my mind came to the many instances in the Bible in which God says "Fear not for I am with you," and yet we don't believe Him. It is almost as if, Common English being so often used arbitrarily, that we often miss the great magnitude of that the statement being that God is always with us. Not looking down from heaven only, simply throwing down little axioms of encouragement simply meant to trick us into taking a few more steps. God is actually with us every day and every moment, experiencing our own situations as they happen. God does not want us to be the Lone Ranger, having to shoot down all of the enemy, with no one else to help or turn to. That is His job. God is greater than superman. I don't even come close.

God tells His children that he "will hold your right hand." I don't know. That image, to me, is a powerful one. God is not some nameless general in the battle of God vs. the World, and he certainly does not simply send his troops to places that He himself would never go. He goes there himself, with us, as we are in the moment. And it is in that instant in which He helps us. So we have every reason to "Fear not". We know that God is with us, and that when we need it, the help will surely follow.

Weak and Strong

"And He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." --II Corinthians 12:9 (NASB)

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I am oftentimes astonished at how utterly powerless I am to control the circumstances of my life and those around me. And it is not so much that I am surprised that such things do happen to me, but rather that I myself, the great and mighty being which lives my life, cannot do anything about it. I suppose that everyone, whether they would profess it openly or not, would like to be thought of as strong, dependable, and brave. Everyone wants to be thought of as a hero, just like superman, just like wonderwoman, intelligent, strong, and unbeatable. Everyone wants to win. Everyone wants to be on top. In our secondary school culture and society, more and more I see and feel the pressure to be strong. And we all, in one way or another, answer that call to the best of our ability. But it also makes me wonder, just how many of us retreat towards the end of the day, and lay upon our beds and cry out in despair for just how really, utterly, and unequivocally weak and destitute we are of any true virtue of our own in our possession.

We all do our best to appear strong, to appear well thought out and put together, to avoid the shame of being human. We play God, the saint, the savior, but at the end the day we know that we have nothing. And I know that some people cannot deal with that. But it is all so very interesting.

At my church we have lately been going through the life of Sampson. What an intriguing character he is! And how appropriate for this subject. Sampson, a man who has been gifted with enormous physical strength, far beyond any other man in history, is a nazarite with a special vow, and is judge of Israel. One would think he would be a hero! One might think he could be a saint! A savior of Israel from their enemies, the Philistines! But Sampson, in all his strength and might, in all of his God-bestown gifts, was utterly powerless to keep his life from falling apart.

Sampson makes one bad choice after another, until even his own wife tries to kill him three times. And at the end of his life, his final act is his revenge on the Philistines. But what a wretched life to lead. How did it get this way? How is it that Sampson, judge of Israel, eventually became the bane of his own nation, his own people, and his family?

"My grace is sufficient for you," says the LORD, "for power is perfected in weakness." Sampson's strength did not come to him because he worked any harder than the Philistines, or even because he was an Israelite! It was because God decided to give it to him in order to fulfill his purposes for Sampson.

Sampson forgot whose strength it was. We forget too. At least I do.

So what does it mean to be weak, or to be strong? I suppose that when we are weak, as we always are, if we rely upon God, and trust that His "grace is sufficient", then his strength will will make us strong, and allow us to have His control to be in charge of our lives.

Oh Give Thanks

Psalm 106
"Praise the LORD. O give thanks to the LORD; for He is good--for His mercy endures forever. [2] Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? Who can bring forth all His praise?"

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I was reading through Psalm 106 some time this week, and these few verses in the beginning really struck me. "Praise the LORD. O give thanks to the LORD; for He is good--for His mercy endures forever." We know to praise God. We hear it all the time. We know to thank God. We thank God at mealtimes (sometimes) and we thank God for good tests and for close saves. But how should we really do things? "Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? Who can bring forth all His praise?" In other words, in my life, in my praise, in everything that I do for God, I should give it everything I've got--knowing that that STILL isn't enough, because nothing that I have or could say or could give is ever enough to be worthy of what our great and awesome God deserves.

And then there is why we do so. In my life, sometimes (not all the time), I forget that the reason why I am thankful and grateful and give everything to God is not duty, is not because He's done some good things but because "He is good" and because "His mercy endures forever."

Thank You, God. Thank You for being good, for being what You are. And that Your mercy endures forever.

Amen

Eh. Something different, but this I feel struck me this week. So, enjoy the Psalm amidst the many Proverbs I've been posting!

Thoughts and Works

Proverbs 16:3 "Commit your works to the LORD, and your thoughts will be established."

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I was thinking about this verse lately. It is kind of interesting when you think about it. A bit flummoxing, a tad confusing one might say.





Oh, quite surely this verse is very straight forward. There is little to debate about it regarding its mere meaning. "Commit your works to the LORD, and your thoughts will be established." If we commit, if we give, if we lift up our works in praise and worship to the LORD, then our thoughts will be established. But the significance of what these verses are telling us--that is what struck me as I examined it with my soul.





One might expect a verse like this to say, "Commit your thoughts to the LORD and your works will be established." And that may or may not be true. But in this verse, we are not promised that. If we commit our works, then our thoughts, not our works, are established.





And in the end, I suppose, that is what really matters anyway. Our thoughts--our hearts, rather, being established.





There is a work that I am itching to accomplish, and I want to do it for God and I want it to be awesome. So if I commit it to God, then surely my thoughts will be established in Him and that is all that matters.





Again, I know not how helpful or how little these things of which I spread. But I write for Christ, and in this I am glad.

Ponder our Path

Proverbs 4:26-27 "Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. [27] Turn not to the right hand or the left; remove your foot from evil."















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Every now and then it does a man (or woman) good to simply stop for a moment and to think about where his life is going, where the path is taking him. "Ponder the path of your feet" the proverb says, "and let all your ways be established." So now we have moved from simply thinking about our life, but now to establishing it. Many a thing can go awry if we do not establish our path, if we do not clearly mark it for our treading. Having an established breakfast, an established prayer time, an established bed time (hehe), and whatever else one may think of. Any way taken, truly it is wisdom that I in my life need to consider more often.

How, one may wonder, are is person supposed to establish their path, so to speak? "Turn not to the right hand or the left," God says to us, "remove your foot from evil." So, if a pattern in our life is by the wayside, or near the fence, or if our foot is stuck in some evil, then we must eradicate it.

Ponder our path, turn not to the side, continue straight on, and remove ourselves from evil. These things are what I get from this verses. Again, I know not who shall read, but it is good for me to write for Christ.

BitterSweet

Proverbs 27:7 "The full soul loathes a honeycomb, but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet."

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I was thinking about this a little this week, but this verse is a good reminder just to myself that our perspective on what is going on in our lives can have a big impact in both how much we enjoy it and also how well we respond to it. In this Proverb it says "The full soul loathes a honeycomb". This is quite interesting. Honey is really sweet, so why wouldn't someone want it? They are, "full", the proverb tells us. I think everyone gets like this sometimes. God gives us so many good things, but then, being content with the things, we look at all of the good things that God blesses us with and say to Him "God, I think I need something more than this. I want something sweeter." But they don't really need anything sweeter, because it is not the quality of the honey which is the problem, but the appetite of the person who is receiving it. "To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet." This person is the complete opposite. It's like he gets this massive hunk of rotting wormwood, takes a big hunk out of it and goes, "MAN! WOAH! I get to eat THIS???!!!! God You are so very good to me." He eats this bitter nasty thing and it tastes sweet, because He is hungry for anything that God gives to Him. Because what may look like Wormwood on the outside may actually be honey within.

This is how we should always be, I think. Hungry--for God.

I know not who may read, but it gladdens me to write for Christ.