The Work of Your Lifetime is Your Work Today
It was no accident that you and I were born into the culture and time in history that we find ourselves. As we understand God’s sovereignty and providence and his ability to see all of His creation and everything in it in a flash from beginning to end, we must realize the intention of God’s Holy Creation. God’s sovereignty actually goes far beyond our cognitive ability to understand it. But that intention included you and I. The dynamic of God’s creation is so vast as to be beyond our understanding. We will never be smart enough or have enough empirical facts to comprehend. Science serves God yet does not define God.
Part of God’s providential influence in our lives is the complex web of cause and effect that God the Father, Christ Jesus and the Person of the Holy Spirit have been weaving since before the Fall. Our part in this is our free will which God already knows inside and out. Circumstances, how we react or don’t react, how we think and how we fulfill our obligations in life are sifted through God’s wise and Holy understanding.
Much of what we as humans do in our lives is the obligations we have, the duties in life we acquire through living. The Christian Life consists of many duties to our job, to our wife and family, community, to our Church, done in a God honoring way. It is through these daily duties, fulfilled in a loving, empathetic God honoring way that led to spiritual maturity and in doing so God gives us ever greater responsibilities.
All things we do can be done in a way that honors God and the people you work with. All of us have worked in jobs we were unhappy with. Most of those situations, and I am sure you will agree are brought about by our bad attitudes. Some jobs or situations I am sure are bad or unfair and we should move on if (after prayer) we feel lead to do so. Sometimes common sense will lead us out of bad situations. But realizing that we do have more control than we realize it is our Duty in Christ to fulfill our daily duties as unto him.
Can you change your attitude about your current situation? Certainly, but will you try?
We are exceptionally good with complaining and grumbling. We put a lot of energy into complaining but even less energy into being an agent of change. Social Media for example is a perfect example. Right now, many blame the algorithms of Facebook etc. for so much civil division. Yet you and I can choose not to be argumentative, hateful or evil in our conversations. To blame the medium and take none of the responsibility is dishonest on our part. No matter how mundane/repetitive/uninspiring are our duties we should never complain about them. You see whatever God has given us to do, he means for us to do it well, the best we can do with some level of joy. If we accept God’s providence in our lives to then complain about the task is to complain about the one who has assigned it to us. Sometimes our momentary duty is to sweep the floors or take out the trash. The duty of a moment may have nothing to do with your job, do it anyway as unto the Lord. Perhaps your momentary duty is to bring comfort to someone who is depressed or unhappy. If God brings a soul before you take time to set aside all else to carry out that task with humility and excellence, knowing that it is God who has assigned it to us and us to it.
Do you see what our Lord does for us day in and day out as we live out our brief lives? Yes, human hindsight is often 20/20, and we do see the world through a glass darkly, yet God has made a way for you and me to flourish and help others as well. So, are you honoring God in all that you do? Once we learn to rejoice in God’s sovereignty over every insignificant moment and every mundane activity that we find meaning and significance in even the smallest of tasks. We all must learn to seek out the small things, the interruptions and take them up with the understanding that each one matters to our Lord and should matter to us.