Weekend Words

 From Water My Soul...

Working for the Lord - Colossians 3:22-25

This morning I filled all the laundry lines with freshly washed dresses, shirts, towels, and socks, then drained the dirty grey water from the washing machine.

I boiled three dozen eggs and peeled them.  I put some of them into pickled red beet juice to make red beet eggs.  I also baked two small pans of brownies.

I swept a few floors and was, as always, amazed at the amount of dirt and dust and dried mud I collected.

I helped Matthan with his coat, and we walked to the barn to peer at a bird's nest that was perched on a beam high over our heads.

Much as I love being a mother and homemaker, there are days when the repetitious work seems trifling and unimportant.  After all, most of those clean clothes will be dirty again before the end of the week.  The food will disappear within a day or two.  The floors will need to be swept again before the sun sets tonight.

Yet whenever I read Colossians 3, I find that the purpose of my work is clear.  I am laboring for my family, that's true, but in a way I am also working for the Lord.

"And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men" (verse 23).

To me, that means doing my work here at home willingly and with joy, delighting in the long lines of clean clothes dancing in the breeze, inhaling the scent of chocolate, watching the ruby juice settle around the milky-white eggs, smiling with Matthan as he points out the bird's nest.  Serving the Lord doesn't always mean great deeds in distant places so much as it means doing the daily, at home duties faithfully and well.

Verse 24 adds, "For ye serve the Lord Christ."  It is the Lord Christ who has given us our place where we serve, and he asks that we work "heartily," doing what he has requested of us.

If I work for God, doing faithfully even the small, repetitious chores, "Ye shall receive the reward" (verse 24).  But if I decide to ignore his commands and the place where he's asked that I serve him, the outcome is also clear.

"But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons" (verse 25).

There's no partiality.  No excuse.  Either I work for him or I don't.  Either way, I'll be rewarded for my work.

From In Green Pastures...

Serving Christ at Home

Many people think that work for Christ must be something outside, something great or public.  They imagine that to minister to Christ they must teach a Sunday school class or join a missionary society, or go out to visit the sick, or go into hospitals or prisons on missions of mercy.  These are all beautiful and important ministries, and Christ wants some of you to do just these things too; but the very first place you are to serve him is in your own home.  Let the blessed light of your life first be shed abroad in that most sacred of all spots.  Brightening that little place, you will be the more ready to be a blessing outside.  Those who are the best Christians at home are the best everywhere else.

(All artwork by Rachel Yumi Chung)