That's Not My Job

I’ve been working for the same office for almost three decades now.

I recall the time when I first started working there.

I was new and learning.

I was assigned a task and worked at it until I reached an impasse.

I remember walking up to a female coworker and asking for her help.

She responded in a terse manner, “That’s not my job.”

Fortunately, I was able to find someone who helped me.

I made the decision there and then that I would never tell someone who needed my help, “That’s not my job”.

I understood two things even back then.

First of all, work is an activity God meant for mankind.

One of the tasks God gave Adam was to tend the Garden.

Genesis 2:15 (NET) - The Lord God took the man and placed him in the orchard in Eden to care for it and to maintain it.

Second, we were created to help one another.

Galatians 6:2 (NET) - Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

This applies to the workplace as well.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “In my walks, every man I meet is my superior in some way, and in that I learn from him.”

There is truth in this but not always in the ways expected.

There are often times when a man (or in my earlier example, a woman) can remind us how NOT to treat others.

In Christ, we have the best teacher of all.

Christ not only told us to love one another, He demonstrated how as well.

Colossians 3:23-24 (NET) - Whatever you are doing, work at it with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not for people, because you know that you will receive your inheritance from the Lord as the reward. Serve the Lord Christ.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, November 2, 2018.

I will be back here on Friday, November 9, 2018

Truth Is Not Relative

Teaching an adult Sunday school class is one of my passions.

One of my goals is to challenge my students with material that requires them to think.

You see, God not only wants our hearts, he wants our minds as well.

Matthew 22:37-38 (NET) - Jesus said to him, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.

Teaching requires a great deal of learning on my part as well.

Most will define learning as the acquisition of new knowledge.

But, there is more to it than that.

It also means being willing to unlearn some things along the way.

The worlds of art, music and literature have ways of shaping our way of thinking.

A number of things we hold to be true as Christians have been shaped by these as well.

Even things that do not necessarily stand up to the test of Scripture.

One of the men I admire from history is Jan Hus who was martyred in 1415.

Hus said, “Therefore faithful Christian, seek the truth, listen to the truth, learn the truth, love the truth, speak the truth, adhere to truth and defend truth to the death.”

Hus understood that real truth was of God and therefore needed to be treated as such.

Hus continually sought the truth throughout his life.

He understood that “truth prevails.”

Or, at least it should.

I find it more than a bit disturbing that in today’s world, truth has been marginalized.

We have even found ways of making truth a relative concept.

We might, for example, say that what is true for one individual might not be true for another.

I wonder what Hus would have to say about that?

Hus knew that contradictory statements could not possibly both be the truth.

Hus even said that if shown a better truth, he would relinquish the one he held in favor of the superior.

Hus lived in constant search of the truth.

He was even willing to die defending it.

In today’s world, we tend to treat the truth lightly.

This is most unfortunate.

John 14:6 (NET) - Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 8:31-32 (NET) - Then Jesus said to those Judeans who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, you are really my disciples and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

We do others a disservice when we allow the truth to be marginalized.

As Christians we have a moral obligation to defend the truth.

Of course, this will mean disagreeing with others from time to time.

That is fine as long as we remember we must love everyone including those with whom we disagree.

That means disagreeing without becoming disagreeable ourselves.

It means loving those who may choose not to love us in return… and that’s the truth.

Matthew 22:39-40 (NET) - The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, October 19, 2018.

I will be back here on Friday, October 26, 2018