If this week has been a chapter, today, Friday, contains its closing comments.

It's Friday, October 25, 2019. Whew! What a busy last few days. You too? At the same time, as the late great gospel singer-songwriter, Rusty Goodman put it, "I wouldn't take nothing for my journey now...." I say that because, despite my best efforts to pretty much make a mess out of things, God has never failed to be right there with me, every step of my journey. The other day I was reading the verses for the upcoming Bible study and one of them hit me like a bolt of lightning. Ephesians Chapter 4, Verse 28: "Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need." In this passage, the Holy Spirit moved through the Apostle Paul to share some differences that should be seen in the life of a believer, the after impact of the individual giving their heart and life to Christ. Verse 28 says the person who was a thief needs as a believer to change his or her ways and become a worker doing honest labor. I get that. No problem. But, look at the purpose part of the verse, 'in order for them to be able to become a giver to those in need.' That struck me. It made me wonder where that particular motivation for working was on my list. I'm not talking about the tithe. I'm talking about the reason we labor. I'll need some time to sort all of that out in my own life. What say you?

Since employment in the so-called secular world has been a huge part of my life, (52 plus years), you will not be surprised I've written much about it over the years. Here is an episode from 12 years ago.

Paid Employment From A Biblical Perspective! (October 28, 2007) There’s nothing like opening a huge can of worms early on a Friday morning. The subject of a believer’s behavior in conjunction with the work they do or the job they perform has been one that I’ve spent endless hours studying and thinking about. There’s a ton of research materials available but most of it indicates we who are Christians are not living it on the job. It seems that most believers end up adapting themselves to a dual morality approach where they apply one set of ethics in the marketplace and another in the home and church. This, sadly, comes as a result of expectations that focus solely on doing whatever it takes including the setting aside of one’s personal values in order to generate profits. When you think about it, that’s really the subtitle of how work is defined in the world. Believe me, I have wrestled with this issue for years. No doubt even companies that portray themselves as ethical push the envelope all day long while walking a fine line in making sure they do not actually break the law. I remember working for a man for a number of years who was an outspoken Christian in his portrayal of himself. He told everyone about his faith, his work on behalf of his church, and his proud family heritage of faithfulness. However, his approach to business was essentially do anything and everything it takes in order to make the deal. His answer for this situation was that God knew that a man had to do what a man had to do. He chose not to see the huge disconnect but most people hated dealing with him because they saw the obvious hypocrisy in his talk versus his walk. In fact, I’ve worked for many other people who were more ethical in their business dealings than he even though they had little or nothing to do with any expression of faith towards God.

I’ll just tell you that whether it’s me or you, it is a bad testimony if we are checking our identity as a believer at the door when we come to work. Many think that work came about as a result of the fall of Adam and it is part of the curse. That’s not true. Adam had a job before he fell as the caretaker over God’s creation. It involved many different responsibilities. What happened in the fall was that work would no longer be without complications, difficulties, and pain. Now you know how your job came to be complicated, difficult, and painful. See, you learn something new every day. Yet the Bible clearly stakes out a standard for those of us who have jobs and work for pay. It first requires that we be who we are in Christ no matter where we are. This doesn’t mean we go around our workplace thumping a Bible since that would no doubt be distracting and even a misuse of company time. It requires that our allegiance be to God first and then we are to be a faithful servant to the enterprise that pays us. This doesn’t mean we will always work with ethical people because there are plenty who operate on the world’s philosophy. However, we are to quietly do what we do as if we are doing it for the Lord. (see Colossians 3:23) If the time comes when we are called upon to break what we know is our commitment to being faithful to our calling, then we will have to deal with that circumstance and try to find a way to meet the requirement another way. We must always make certain that we are on solid grounds for being concerned about a particular issue, but in the end, if we are required to violate our faith, we must make a decision, and leave the consequences in God’s hands.

That’s easier said than done and I’ve been all over the page in how I’ve handled these types of situations. In fact, I worked for seven years for the man mentioned above knowing I should have confronted him and left the company rather than be a supporter of his open maligning of the faith. Why didn’t I? I thought I had to think about my financial obligations and my family and that was my rationalization at the time. However, the truth is the truth. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills which by the way means He owns it all! He knows how to take care of His own and while it would not have been easy because we are not promised easy, I am fully persuaded He would have made a way for me if I had stood up and been counted for what I knew was right. I can’t go back and change that now and I will tell you how wonderfully blessed I am to now be working for a man who is committed to doing his business by the Book, God’s Holy Word. This doesn’t mean he or me or our program is perfect but we try our best to look at our business dealings through the lens of fundamental truths as set forth in God’s word. I can tell you that working in this environment has been a rewarding experience for me. I leave you with one thing and that is an encouragement to not give up the struggle and throw in the towel even before you are engaged in the conflict. It will come but if you have already compromised away your beliefs, you will end up operating no differently than those who are out for themselves only, without Christ, and enslaved by the ruler of this world, Satan himself. You don’t have to be a theologian to know this is not what God would have us to do. This will give you something to think about over the weekend and on Monday I’ll try to come up with something not quite so heavy.

It's worth mentioning how that blog was written during the first month of my new employment. I will soon observe my retirement date after having served there for 12 years. Now we get to Saturday and Lord's Day Sunday. My prescription: Don't let the Astros get you down; Enjoy your time off; and, show up at the meeting place on Sunday to show your thankfulness to God for all He has done, is doing, and will do for us all. Amen. ....More later.