Recently while I was waiting for a flight in an airport, I discovered this book title in the gift shop.
The Sacredness of Secular Work: 4 Ways Your Job Matters for Eternity (Even When You're Not Sharing the Gospel).
It intrigued me. After spending many years of my youth and young adulthood being trained that there is a huge difference between "serving the Lord full time" and "secular work," I have come to different conclusions. There is a difference, yes, but only in certain aspects.
I have come to the conclusion that a 17-year-old boy can bring as much glory to God by milking an ornery goat in his parents' garage in the cold of early spring as he can by practicing preaching at a local church or singing in the youth choir.
A man who has been released from prison can be doing just as sacred a work fastening up drywall in a parsonage on the reservation as if he were testifying a fancy testimony of redemption in church.
A mom who would rather be writing missionary books can be doing a sacred work ironing her husband's hankies and Sunday pants and her own cotton blouses.
And mending a hem that is falling out--because who wants to get up in front at church with one's hem hanging out? It is just as spiritual to sit at the sewing machine as to sit in church listening to the Sunday evening message.
It is just as spiritual for a husband to lift the new washer on top of a drawer he bought with it for his wife and then get down on his knees to adjust it as it is to get down on one's knees to pray.
May we never forsake the assembling of ourselves together on the Lord's Day to merely shop for lumber, but may we always remember that, having been faithful to church, Bible reading, prayer, and other means of grace, we are doing the will of God to be going down a list in Menards or tying down a load of materials for the next work project.
Trucking to save money toward one's future of serving the Lord in whatever capacity He calls is a worthy cause, as Tim is doing, who is hauling all sorts of loads this month now that logging has come to somewhat of a standstill for the season.
Working industriously at a sawmill to earn some extra money toward a home and property is just as spiritual as giving the shirt off one's back to the missionary offering or to a homeless man shivering in the cold. It will take work to keep from being a homeless person begging on the street corner.
Gratefully enjoying a beautiful bridal shower gift from a sweet cousin is just as sacred as rejoicing in the Lord in an emotional service in church.
Even playing volleyball with friends and relatives is a good thing if done for the glory of God. "All work and no play" makes Tom, Dick, and Harry dull boys, to say nothing of girls.
From my mom a while back
"Here is a hymn that I happened to turn to a couple days ago. It was written especially for a mid-day prayer service in an English city. But it fits us anywhere ."
Behold us, Lord, a little space
From daily tasks set free,
And met within thy holy place
To rest awhile with Thee.
Around us rolls the ceaseless tide
Of business, toil, and care,
And scarcely can we turn aside
For one brief hour of prayer.
Yet these are not the only walls
Wherein Thou mayst be sought;
On homeliest work Thy blessing falls,
In truth and patience wrought.
Thine is the loom, the forge, the mart,
The wealth of land and sea,
The worlds of science and of art,
Revealed and ruled by Thee.
Then let us prove our heavenly birth
In all we do and know,
And claim the kingdom of the earth
For Thee and not Thy foe.
Work shall be prayer, if all be wrought
As thou wouldst have it done;
And prayer, by Thee inspired and taught,
Itself with work be one. Amen.
John Ellerton, 1826-1893
Tune: DUNFERMLINE CM
Scottish Psalter 1615
