“I see you everywhere!”
“Well, I have about 17 jobs.”
This is a conversation I had a few days ago at work. I stopped to think about it that night and realized I’ve had only 6 jobs in the past few months.
Some of you are probably freaking out right now about having to keep up with 6 different jobs. Do I have such low-paying jobs that I need 6? Some of you are probably wondering how I came about such abundance when you are experiencing lack. It wasn’t anything to do with me.
The school where I have worked pays on a 10-month schedule meaning I have to get a summer job to survive. I looked for a summer job for a while before I kinda gave up. I was praying about it and not finding anything I felt comfortable doing. Then a landslide happened.
I found a temporary job cleaning hotel rooms on the weekends that has already stretched six weeks past the end date and will continue for another 6 weeks. This has been a HUGE blessing. Working here has allowed me to develop new relationships, serve others, and tone some muscles. 🙂
Then I helped the new music minister purge, organize, and unpack his office and closets. It was good to get to know him outside of service. I also spent this time praying over my church and its people as I cleaned out years of piled up stuff. As I encountered someone at the church or found something that brought them to mind I prayed for them.
Then I was asked to build a curriculum for a new program that will start in town. I don’t usually even write detailed lesson plans so this has been a challenge for me. I have had to push my brain into uncomfortable territory. I think I am close to getting what the boss wants that will help kids learn.
The director of my previous school asked me to help get the school and teachers ready for the new year. I spent a week being a pack horse, gopher, and bookworm. 🙂 I really enjoyed hanging out with all my teacher friends and helping them prepare.
This past year I had a weekend job selling pre-owned furniture. The shop closed and they had a closeout sale the last 4 days. I worked like crazy and have the bruises and sore muscles to prove it. 🙂 I had a great time helping people find what they needed and getting them a good deal on it.
This next week I am starting my job at the new ice cream shop. It isn’t opened yet but I will be at work setting up and getting ready for the grand opening soon. I’m just hoping I don’t get paid in product; I do have a fitness requirement for the Race. 🙂
So what’s the reason for sharing all of this random information? It’s twofold.
1. I have had many kinds of employment over the years, sometimes all at once, but none of these jobs is as important as the job I don’t earn a wage doing. My most important job is summed up in this old hymn chorus:
“Tell the good news, tell the good news, tell the good news that Christ has come.
Tell the good news, tell the good news, tell the good news to everyone.”
My most important job is to share the hope of gospel with the world. It isn’t always fun or easy. I most times don’t see the reward. I can face all sorts of persecution and rejection. But in all of this I bring glory to God when I obey and share His story. This job pays in blessings and continued obedience. Some times I don’t feel like I’ve been paid at all but imagine the reward in heaven if I can say at the end as Paul did in 2 Timothy 4:6-8: “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.” Is telling the good news your most important job, too?
2. Where do you see Jesus? In scripture, worship, and prayer for sure. Where else? I am always a little disappointed at how people are surprised when I find Jesus in the world. I find Him in books, movies, songs, conversations with others, games, brainstorming sessions, nature, comedy, TV shows, theatre, etc. I was seemingly constantly baffling my youth Sunday school class when I would start the session explaining how Jesus was in Frozen or something similar.
In Frozen there is a song called Fixer Upper. It talks about the fact that the people are not perfect and can’t fix that themselves. The only fix that works is true love. Now they were talking about romantic love which can’t actually fix you but the truth is still there. Love, the real love of Jesus, can and does take the broken heap that we were and recreates it into something beautiful.
This morning at church we sang the new version of Just As I Am. The hymn always got to me. I love that Jesus takes us as fixer-uppers. The new chorus just rips my heart out.
“I come broken to be mended, I come wounded to be healed.
I come desperate to be rescued, I come empty to be filled.
I come guilty to be pardoned by the blood of Christ the Lamb.
And I’m welcomed with open arms, praise God, just as I am!”
This is who I was before Christ: broken, wounded, desperate, empty, and guilty. Even then Christ welcomed me and changed me into something new: mended, healed, rescued, filled, and pardoned. I’m blown away every time I think about the radical transformation that Christ has worked, is working, and will work in my life.
I bet you all could see that truth in the hymn but can you see it the the silly Disney song? Are you looking for Jesus everywhere you go?
So to sum it all up, (I despise this phrase is writing. I’m sorry I’m being lazy.) our most important job as Christians is to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth. This becomes easier and richer if we are on the lookout for Jesus in everything we do. Where will you find Him this week? Who will you tell?
