STEWARDSHIP
	Workin' On the Chain Gang

My 84-year-old mother, God love her, has never been known for her housework, but, by gum, the woman could scrub a toilet until the Kohler people would have been proud to put it on the showroom floor. It's just that it didn't happen that often. Usually the task fell to one of our series of housekeepers, and as much as we loved them, they never did half the job Mama did, but they did it a good bit more frequently. And to this day, I cannot imagine changing sheets without using knife-sharp hospital corners, another one of Mama's particularities. Long before I ever thought truly seriously about the wonderful verse in Colossians (3:23), I watched my mother "do [her] work HEARTILY, as for the Lord, rather than for men," whether it was preparing for a Bible study, or doing lesson plans for her Latin and English students, or hostessing some Miss Mississippi hopeful, or, every once in a while, scrubbing the you-know-what. If I heard her say, "Don't be a halfway Johnny!" once, I heard it a million times. She was also big on "Now, remember: you are doing this for the GLORY OF THE LORD!" That phrase accompanied just about every horrible household chore you can think of, plus practicing the piano.

   Not to put my mother on quite the same plane, but does not Scripture tell us the same thing?? God designed us for work, and then He graciously gave us the gifts to accomplish that work and the desire to do it. Have you ever watched and heard the musicians in this church sing or play their instruments? Why, the joy floods the sanctuary! God would have us experience that joy in whatever we are called to do at whatever time-grading tests and papers, writing complicated legal contracts, filing documents, dealing with medical patients, mowing the lawn, AND scrubbing the toilets! Do we approach every task before us as if God Himself were our benevolent taskmaster? Praise His gnificent name, the work that awaits us in Glory will no longer bear the rustrating toil that we now frequently experience, but we don't live there yet!

    Oh, my friends! It is a HEART attitude! A wonderful man in this church taught my Sunday School class once, and I so vividly remember his saying, "Each day during my morning devotional, I ask God that He let someone see Jesus through me today." And a godly woman who taught me in a women's Bible study each week told me once, when I was discontent and wondering if I was where I needed to be, that "wherever you are, THAT is where God has put you at this moment."   Suddenly, the Great Jehovah was put in His proper place as the One who controls everything, from Whom riches and honor come (and not any boss!), and who makes men great and gives them strength! (I Chronicles 29: 11-12) Why, God was in total control of what job I had, how long I had it, and what I made doing it! And He wanted to use me as His witness, that my students at Belhaven College would see Christ when they walked into Irby Hall, room 208! Oh, Father, please give me the patience of Job, the joy of the healed leper, the wisdom of Solomon, and the overflowing love of Christ in this classroom this day!

    Just as we commit our tithe and our Faith Promise, we simply must commit the work we do each day to our gracious and loving Father. You don't walk out of the Sunday service into another other-world dimension where suddenly you are at work and out of God's hands! For years I dutifully did hours upon hours of volunteer work, but I did not do it with the face of Christ on mine or His mighty heart imprinted upon my own. If ever I Corinthians 3:11-15 were written for one miserable sinner, it was written for me. Verse 15 tells us, "if it (my 30 million useless hours) is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames." All my labors of wood, hay, and stubble make me so ashamed, but our faithful and forgiving God does not give up on us! Oh, precious Lord Who holds me in the palm of Your hand, please use me, mold me, strengthen me as Your good and faithful servant! I do not want to enter into the presence of my King Jesus with smoking clothes!

    Now, when I say we must "commit" our work, I'm not just talking punching the clock. "Work" is every person we deal with, every child we parent, every single human with whom we come in contact! It is every paper we type, every garbage can we empty, every task-menial, mundane, or gnitudinous! My stars! WE are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do! (Ephesians 2:10). John tells us that the people were most concerned with what "works" they should do in order to attain eternal life. Jesus answered them, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent."  Dear friends, let us make absolutely sure we get the ORDER right! First, we believe-and God even does the "work" for that! For by grace are we saved through faith-and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Then and only then are we ready to serve our blessed Savior; and serve we must, for faith without works is deader than any doornail. Precious God my Father, with every finger I lift, let me do it in YOUR name and for Your glory!

—by Margaret Tohill
Member, Stewardship Committee