HOW DRUDGERY BECOMES SPLENDOUR

Ron Bainbridge

TODAY’S MESSAGE of ENCOURAGEMENT

FROM

Discovering a BETTER LIFE MINISTRIES

https://abl-alb.wixsite.com/discoverabetterlife

(Stories of Real People, Real Events, Real Places)

Are dedicated to HELPING

PEOPLE FIND PEACE and HOPE

(John 10:10)

(MAY 14th, 2020)

HOW DRUDGERY BECOMES SPLENDOUR

Friend, “A dairy maid can milk cows to the glory of God,” so said Martin Luther. And while it isn’t so simply because Luther said it, it is a significant spiritual truth that too many people in this day and age appear to have missed. Suppose I ask you why do you work? How would you answer? To make money, to pay bills, to keep a roof over your head, or to earn enough from something you hate so you can someday do what you really want to do?

Well, why those responses aren’t wicked, they are “questionable,” because they are hardly the noblest of answers. But they are the ones typically given by people who suffer burnout. Friend, work is done to the glory of God when it meets the following criteria:

(1) The task is honourable.

(2) It is performed with integrity.

(3) It is done with a sense of one’s role as a social creature who loves his or her neighbour as themselves.

The first norm means that nobody can be a thief or drug trafficker to the glory of God, because behaviours that are unethical cannot give God either pleasure or honour. The second criterion says that God is glorified only when you do your duty and make a good-faith effort to fulfil commitments, not just punching the clock, but doing your job as if your employer were Jesus instead of “Mean Old Bob.” The third standard for working to God’s glory may be the hardest to grasp. In my opinion, though, it is the most important element for turning a job into a calling or transforming what you may regard as “boring” work into something you are able to do “from the heart” and “to the Lord.” (cf. Ephesians 6:6-7) However, some people demand to know. “How in the world could I sell bolts or washing machines by that standard?” “It’s too blasted idealistic!” Not really! Friend, I’ve watched numerous people sell washing machines, hardware, and building materials that way for years. And these people have never knowingly misrepresented a product, pushed a high-priced item over a less costly one adequate for a buyer’s purpose, or otherwise taken advantage of a customer. In fact, these people would have considered that a betrayal of their duty to love their neighbour, or to share God’s care for the human race. Sales people, doctors, taxi drivers, teachers, lawyers the people who genuinely care about their clients treat them differently from those who simply see them as meal tickets. They serve their needs and won’t exploit them. Could it possibly be that some people who insist their unhappiness traces back to bad jobs are miserable, simply because they do these jobs with the wrong incentive? Friend, I look forward to sharing more thoughts with you tomorrow. However, if you would like to write to DISCOVERING A BETTER LIFE with your comments or questions, we’d be pleased to hear from you.

Our Postal Address is: P.O. Box 1540, Albany 6331, Western Australia.

E-mail us at: abl-alb@omninet.net.au or Phone us on: (08) 98 418 418

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind

Is a faithful servant!

Unfortunately, we have created a society that

Honours the servant and has forgotten the gift.”

Albert Einstein, (1879-1955)

Friend, thank you for taking the time to read what we feel privileged to have shared with you today. We hope you have been encouraged and blessed.

Ron Bainbridge