A few weeks ago we took a Monday night to look at how Christ’s Lordship and the message of the Gospel should affect the way we work. This past weekend I saw this article by Justin Taylor (which was remarkably close to our study), and thought the end was especially helpful. I want to keep encouraging everyone who’s part of our group to see, day by day, how the Lord is with us and working in all the seemingly insignificant things of life. Here’s the end of the article:
Whatever your vocation, God calls you to honor Him, to reflect His image, and to labor with all of your might. You may not be in your dream job right now. But the secret is to honor God in the little things and to sanctify the ordinary.
The great Reformer Martin Luther was a brilliant, earthy man who had a way of bringing everything back to the gospel. When he wanted to illustrate the dignity and significance of seeing God in the ordinary events of life, he chose a very interesting example: a father changing diapers. (Just keep in mind that they didn’t have disposable diapers back in the 16th century — it would have been an even messier and smellier affair than it is today.)
He observed that worldly perspective would say something like: “Alas, must I rock the baby, wash its diapers, make its bed, smell its stench, stay up nights with it, take care of it when it cries, heal its rashes and sores … ?” But in the midst of the stench Luther breathes fresh gospel air:
“What then does Christian faith say to this? It opens its eyes, looks upon all these insignificant, distasteful, and despised duties in the Spirit, and is aware that they are all adorned with divine approval as with the costliest gold and jewels. It says, O God, because I am certain that you have created me as a man and have from my body begotten this child, I also know for a certainty that it meets with your perfect pleasure. I confess to you that I am not worthy to rock the little babe or wash its diapers, or to be entrusted with the care of the child and its mother. How is it that I, without any merit, have come to this distinction of being certain that I am serving your creature and your most precious will? O how gladly will I do so, though the duties should be even more insignificant and despised. Neither frost nor heat, neither drudgery nor labor, will distress or dissuade me, for I am certain that it is thus pleasing in thy sight…. God, with all his angels and creatures is smiling — not because the father is washing diapers, but because he is doing so in Christian faith.”
As we think about our tasks for the week ahead — or about the vocations God has called us to for this season of our lives — some will be great fun, and some will be difficult. But let us encourage each other that God has called us, God knows what He is doing, and we must see and honor God in everything that we do, big or small.