Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and consider the great love of the LORD. –Psalm 107:43
On the evening of June 19, 1773, Patsy Custis suffered what would be a fatal seizure at the dinner table. As her body surrendered its life, her step-father wrapped his arms around her in a desperate attempt to will her through the crisis, to no avail. The 17-year old slipped silently into eternity despite the earnest pleas and desperate efforts of the man who loved her as if she were his own child. George Washington would write the next day that “yesterday removed the sweet innocent girl into a happy, & more peaceful abode than any she has met with, in the afflicted Path she hitherto has trod.”
You don’t have to be a parent to imagine the terror and great sadness that engulfed George and Martha Washington on that terrible day. The man whom history would one day revere found himself powerless against forces larger than life itself.
From the moment Adam and Eve introduced sin into God’s creation, that is the lot of every human being. We rail against death and injustice, against pain and suffering, against tyranny and greed, all while understanding there will never be a day this side of eternity when we are not besieged by their presence.
Economists must design systems that take into account the realities of sinful natures; no man-made economic system will erase greed or sloth; nor will any such system ever rid us of imbalances and injustice in the provision of even basic needs. Still, it is not enough for us to rail against these all-too-human disruptions to God’s economic design. We must endeavor to manage by applying God’s standards even as we acknowledge the terrible toll sin takes on even our best efforts.
Like Washington on that fateful June evening, those of us who have felt the love of Christ and its redemptive power wrap our arms around His creation and cry out as we seek to separate the beauty of creation from the rampant effects of the disease of sin. Try as we may, we know our best efforts will always fail to stave off sinful human nature and its impact on our labors.
But to surrender to disinterest is not an option. To resign ourselves to the inevitable and let the world suffer without our best efforts is to dishonor the God we owe so much. Our very effort to introduce God’s principles, and Christ’s redemptive influence, into every corner of our lives—particularly our working lives—offers the world a chance to experience a foretaste of eternity by giving them a glimpse at what redemption can mean, and how wonderfully perfect eternity will one day be. And while our efforts may some days seem nothing more than futile railing, the very fact that we’re embracing Creation makes its suffering that much less painful.
Workers engaged in doing their daily tasks as a way of honoring God, and in ways that honor God, plant the deepest and most productive seeds of evangelism; seeds that demonstrate that God cares not only about His children, but about everything that affects them.
No job done with an eye towards honoring God; done with an eye towards healing the sick or clothing the naked; done with an eye towards pushing back the effects of sin and selfish greed; done with a compassion for our co-wanderers on this Earth; no job doesn’t matter. We are all co-laborers for Christ when we do our jobs mindful of His presence; mindful of His pleasure in the doing.
Even when the forces we face overcome our own ability to shield those we manage, work alongside, or serve, we must know that the very act of trying to shield them serves them. God is served most nobly in the process of work; outcomes are left to His wisdom and dominion.
Let no one ever tell you your work doesn’t make a difference. When done with an eye on God, it matters well beyond our feeble horizons.
--Randy Kilgore
rkilgore@marketplacenetwork.com
www.marketplacenetwork.com
