Work SUCKS!...or Does It?

²³ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, ²⁴ since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.(Colossians 3:23-24; NIV 2010 edition)

Yep...it's that time again. Or should I say, that DAY again.

Good ole Monday. *insert BBM/GChat "Where has the weekend gone?!" face*

While Monday is typically the day that job sites such as CareerBuilder and Monster see the most job applications, I'd ask you to consider a different point of view about your job.

Maybe it's not the job that sucks but your attitude towards it.

What have You done for me lately? How soon do we forget the moments before we had the job. We may have been broke, we may have been in school praying for that dream job to come it's way but all of a sudden this wonderful opportunity came about that we couldn't stop telling everyone about. After a while we grew restless for whatever reason: no new promotion, we think we have the boss from hell, or maybe they just ran out of your favorite snack in the snack machine and never replaced it. We forget that God's will got us there.

You've been delivered. Let's take a birds-eye view through Biblical history. Whether it was Adam or the Israelites, God never lead anyone into a land that He did not intend for them. God is a God of purpose and intent. Not to mention He loves us! He wouldn't put you someone to cause you are or to take away His promise of abundant life. If you truly feel like God got you the job that you are in, do you think He would put you someplace sucky? I doubt it. Sometimes we have to check our flesh and that can be the hardest thing.

Entropy of the flesh. One of the common things that you'll probably see throughout my blog is the concept of the entropy of the flesh. In science, entropy basically means that in a closed system without outside interference, stuff is just bound to break down. If you don't work out and eat right, your body breaks down. If you don't nurture relationships with loved ones and friends, they're bound to break down. Every Earthly portion of ourselves (mind and body, not spirit/soul) is meant to die. And if you don't walk into work every day with the Colossians 3:23-24 mindset towards your job, guess what: you're GOING to find a reason to hate it. You know what, the job may suck, but you were put there for a reason.

Our purpose. Our work. Christians on Earth are God's ambassadors. It is our responsibility to take what life gives us and turn around and show the love of Christ towards the situation. In other words, if life throws you lemons, you take them, pray over them, turn them over to God and let HIS fruit show through you. For every nagging coworker there should be a compassionate ear to hear them out. For every micromanaging boss there should be a desire to be transparent in your work and understand that they desire the best interest of the company. And every dollar that comes up short on payday should be met with an evaluation of our spending and what idols we may be placing over service to God (and don't forget to tithe!).

This is probably not the news you wanted to hear to jump start your week and if not, I'm going to be praying for you (lol)! Just remember that at the end of the day we as Christians are called to be servants of the mindset of Christ. We've been called to give up the right to feel "ownership" of anything here on Earth because our sights are set towards the greater reward which is unbreakable relationship with the Father in Heaven. In turn, God rewards that by providing for our needs as long as we are obedient to His will:

   ²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

   ²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:25-34; NIV 2010 edition)

Now enough reading blogs and get back to work!

Fire Power!

"⁶ In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, " (1 Peter 1:6-8; NIV 2010 Edition).

This past Saturday I was meeting up with some friends for a dinner party. I had all day to get ready...and I took advantage of every minute. Clothes ironed by 9am, car cleaned/washed by 2pm, and I even had time to relax and take care of some errands. Everything was going on schedule until this:

Brush fires in the state of Maryland.

Now I don't know the science behind brush fires because I missed that episode of The Magic School Bus, but it got me thinking...

How does God use fire?

In the natural sense, I found this out about wildfires:

Wildfires consume vegetation that would otherwise become overgrown, creating ideal conditions for a catastrophic wildfire. Wildfires allow more open spaces for new and different kinds of vegetation to grow and receive sunlight. This, in turn, provides fresh nutrients and shelter for forest plants and animals. Wildfires also keep our forests healthy by consuming harmful insects and diseases.(From Here)

If you've ever experienced a fire in your life, you know that that is exactly what happens.

God uses fire, or trials, in our lives to not only add but to subtract. Trials show us what has become overgrown and what needs to be scaled back or even killed. Trials also add by deepening our faith and allowing us more creative ways to give God glory. Like Paul says in the scripture above, the value of our faith is even greater than gold. Our faith is the catalyst that takes a bad situation and turns it around for God's glory. There is a change that happens - a transformation - that happens only because of God's testing us by fire. When it's all over and the dust has settled, you've become a new person. And sometimes this is a new person you would not have been if you let things overgrow in your life that needed pruning or removing.

Thank God for the fire in our lives!