Remember Who You Work For

As I get older I realize that life moves ever more quickly. Each passing day is a smaller percentage of our time here on earth. Still, each day counts. Each day gives us new opportunities and chances. In the past and present I have looked at my jobs more or less as means to an end (with the one very large exception of teaching). The truth is there are some positions where it is easier to remember who we are representing in the world. It’s simple, yes. But I hope that as each of our days passes and every time we clock in or out thinking we are being taken advantage of, that we remember who we ultimately belong to, and that any corporation or boss we have to deal with is not bigger than a God who can forgive us and love us and see through our entire being simultaneously. Regardless of our position, power, or job title, we aren’t working for ourselves or just a company, we are working for our Maker. Representing him in a world that often acts out of fear, rejection, or reaction. We can’t let our stories and our work say the same. What does it seem that our Savior has then saved us from? He has saved us (probably from even more than we would be comfortable sharing), and we need that to be evidenced in our lives.

We ARE Jesus to the world, in our workplace, every place where our identity is known it should also be known some of that identity: love, forgiveness, acceptance despite flaws.

My jobs might not be glamorous or even fulfilling in a worldly sense, but I am not there without a purpose.

Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way. Colossians 3:17, The Message

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Revitalization from the Father

Psalm 130

 1-2 HELP, GOD-the bottom has fallen out of my life! Master, hear my cry for help!
Listen hard! Open your ears!
Listen to my cries for mercy.

3-4 If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings,
who would stand a chance?
As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit,
and that’s why you’re worshiped.

5-6 I pray to God-my life a prayer-
and wait for what he’ll say and do.
My life’s on the line before God, my Lord,
waiting and watching till morning,
waiting and watching till morning.

7-8 O Israel, wait and watch for God-
with God’s arrival comes love,
with God’s arrival comes generous redemption.
No doubt about it-he’ll redeem Israel,
buy back Israel from captivity to sin.

One of my favorite prayers when I was living through rebellion was this one. This morning I read www.flowerdust.net, Anne Jackson’s blog, and I was reminded of my past and everything it has brought me to and made me, even though there are many things I have remained ashamed of. When I stop to think I cannot believe it. Where would I be if God was keeping track of all my wrong doings? If he did not redeem and restore, offering hope.

Right now is one of the happiest times in my life. All at once I feel renewed, restored, and ready to continue growing in my relationship with Christ. Then it is also one of the saddest times in my life. As my parents are divorcing I feel sadness, confusion, and disbelief washing over me when I least expect it. So I do pray, and I thank God for his love and forgiveness. Both for my past, and for my parents. It is tempting to want to believe my childhood was all a lie, a pastor and a pastor’s wife pretending to be perfect. But then I am reminded, that just like me, they cry out to God, they pray, and they need his renewal and forgiveness too. For “who would stand a chance.” Certainly not me.

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