Serving As If
Although this strategy only worked one time because after that my friends figured out they were actually helping me with my chores, it did work!
Ah, the refreshing season of autumn. When I was a kid it would relieve those hot August and September days in school, and it would snap a briskness into the air on Saturdays that made playing outside perfect - not too hot, not too cold. Except when my parents told me I needed to clear all of the elm tree leaves off of our yard that had fallen like clock work. Ugh. Raking. It meant blisters and boredom and being away from my friends.
Unless.
I’d invite them over for a raking party. Nah. It had to be something more attractive. Yes! That’s it! We’d rake base baths in my back yard like we were the grounds crew for the World Series and then play like the major leaguers we idolized! Although this strategy only worked one time because after that my friends figured out they were actually helping me with my chores, it did work! Because we weren’t working for those cruel ogres, my parents, but for the World Series. Now that’s something special!
So which ogres do you serve? Your professor? Your supervisor? Your parents? Your spouse? An overzealous government agency? A by-the-book condo association? A hard-to-please board of control? Here’s some friendly advice from God’s Word. “Obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good they do” (Ephesians 6:5-8). Trying to please any of these “masters” can really be a chore.
Unless.
You make it fun and fulfilling by remembering you are serving Christ himself. Your calling as a Christian is to put the interests of others ahead of your own, to deny your selfishness and take up the cross, to lean not on your own analysis and understanding but trust in the promises and commands of Christ. Is that an adventure or what? And every time you try to do what these earthly masters need you to do, you are trying to fulfill your Christian calling. That means you are serving the Lord, not people. That means the Lord will reward you in some mysterious or not-so-mysterious, miraculous or not-so-miraculous, mega or not-so-mega way according to his wisdom and love … whether you receive a reward from your earthly master or not.
Now that’s something special!
PRAYER: Dearest Lord and Master, I have failed to serve you when I have refused to serve others. I have put my own interests ahead of others and, therefore, ahead of you. Forgive me for my selfish ways. Serve me once again with your mercy, and your patience, and your gracious promises. Remind me that work and chores and responsibility in my life is also service to you, and let me do it wholeheartedly because you are watching. And I know you smile on my work that is done to please you. I smile too. Amen.