Tom Branch - Roads of Faith

Not exactly another case of the Monday's, but a good Monday it was. You never know when God wants to tell you something, or when you can learn something form someone. Last night was the bowling night I have been trying to plan for some time now. It finally happened and several folks were there. It was fun. Even though my scores were not that great, it was lots of fun.

But then it got spiritual for me. After the bowling fun we hit up a nice ice cream joint. So I am sipping on my peanut butter cup shake when I over heard a question about how work was going.

Earlier in the evening I mentioned to one of the guys that I knew tomorrow was going to be a bad day. It is my Monday (first work day of the week) which is always packed as it is, but the weekend shift there was a new sports thing for the high schools and I messed it up. So I got an email about it. Which the tones are never pleasing, anyways I was expecting the day to be not to well at all. So that was my comment to my friend about work.

Now at the ice cream joint He asked one of the other women there about how work was going. I can't remember the whole answer but she said that she shouldn't complain.

That hit me. You could hear in her voice it may not have been a great job, but she could not complain. I have an issue with that myself. It is hard not to complain there as I just, well would like a new job or new schedule where I can sleep like a human again.

But what I did do that night is I went home and did some serious prayer. I did write down many requests and prayed them all. I asked God for his help. I know how angry and frustrated get in those situations. In a place where grace is no where around. Where only perfection is allowed it is hard to not get defensive and defend ones self in such a way that defies godliness like meekness and humility. So I am there in such a place angry and frustrated. Within my own power I cannot change this. I took it to prayer. I eventually passed away into slumber and felt good when I woke up.

I prayed once again on my way into work. I wanted my focus to be on working as if for Christ and not man. Yes my day still had its flaws and a few work habits need some tweaking, but the day went ok. Nothing bad occurred. Something felt different.

So I picked up my devotional bible tonight which I am finding a bit gimmicky. Ya know Christianity with a cause kind of book. It has given me some great insights on something and does help some. But it is still gimmicky.

It had a series on relating to my workplace. Some of it stood out but I came to most of it in prayer and scripture. My thoughts are still all over right now with the work issue. But knowing that I have a job, I should be thankful. When I complain about the work what exactly am I complaining about? Is there more to it than what I say?

Also when working work as if it is for God and not man. Which the secret is we always work for God but we put man in front. Or even our own hearts and desires first.

Someone else may be at fault for your plight, but if you are a believer in Christ, nothing comes to you that doesn't first pass through God's hands. Lius Palau; Where is God when bad things happen?

Bad day at work? I someone to blame? Maybe they are. But we forget to recognize God's sovereignty in the situation and follow him accordingly. Today by his doing I remembered to not let anger and frustration take over when one of the expected bad conversations started. I remembered. It was over before I knew it.

Now in working for the lord and not man I found a great verse that stood out so much more in one version than the others. Most put it in terms like if you work for god you will succeed. I have a problem with this translation. It does not mean you will succeed in that task and it does seem to give a false promise. As sometimes he means us to fail in order to learn and better understand his love and grace for us. Sometimes to learn it is hard. But here is the verse in in New King James.

Commit your works to the LORD, And your thoughts will be established. Proverbs 16:3 (New King James Version)

It's not about succeeding, but establishing your thoughts. This spoke to me as work for God and you will be revealed. What you have inside and who you are will come out in your work. Your heart and thoughts will become established in your work. That's at least how this verse stood out to me.

But the difference in one version can sometime throw one off. But one belief I have had for some long time I saw it in words from another tonight. Better said than I. Think of this as if we live and work, out whole of life is unto God...

No translation is quite effective as the flesh-and-blood edition. Vance Havner (North Carolina Pastor)

In our work lives we may very well be more of a translation of the word, through our lives, that we may confuse or run others away from him while we work, live, and play. This is often hard to accomplish to those in our everyday lives. Yet it is often what we do behind the scenes that should go unnoticed and unsaid. God knows. It is a hard line to draw I know.

And one last thought of the night, is I saw just a tad bit more of how I have no power or control. I cannot take credit for any of the changes in my life no matter how secular I try to be, because the world is performance oriented you have to produce and change. Yet I see it is God working in my as I know there have been several occasions where I did not chose my action I wanted to. On my way to work this morning I realized I have no power whatsoever. If I did then I would have created myself. God created and has power.

Otherwise we could create our own selves. He created, he controls. Just as we create something we claim it as our own and take pride in it. We control what happens to it or not. Like a macaroni sculpture. We made it, we love, it, it is all ours. We control who we show it to. Or decide to trash it when we grow up.

God made us. He loves us. We are his so therefore he controls us. Oh yeah and on my way to the bathroom today I thought of Sigmund Freud (Fraud), he commented that man made our image of God in our need for him. So we made him up. Hey Siggy old buddy...Maybe we were created to see God? We did not create god out of nesessicty, he created us.

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