May 11, 2015 | by: Tom Kruggel | 0 comments
Another Monday’s dawn... the weekend’s over. My mirror’s reflection a familiar one – fingers deftly pushing marbled round plastic through tightly woven holes on a crisp and tailored shirt. Refreshed with memories of days behind, yet juxtaposed with excitement about work ahead, I peer into my own grey eyes and say to my God again, “I love my life... every day of it.”
It wasn’t always that way. I loved evenings more than days, weekends more than weekdays, off-days more than workdays, as if one were more valuable, more noble than the other, as if one cleared the pathway to enjoy, but only at the expense of the other. Like, time with co-workers earned more valuable and noble time with family. Like, making a living earned more valuable and noble opportunities to minister at church. The compartmentalization weighed heavy, striving to perfectly slice the pie of life as spokes on a wheel, only to be exasperated when time and duty seemed out of round.
Is this right? To work so the next moment is life... enjoyed, seeing one as a prerequisite for the other, seeing one as more honorable and worthwhile than the other? I don’t know... but what I do know is that all of life is to be lived as worship [cf. Romans 12:1] – a vertical view on the horizontal plane. This I also know is “…the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect”, [Romans 12:2c (ESV)] and that in all of life, whether work or play, whether home or away, whether toil or holiday, to learn “in whatever situation I am to be content” (the Apostle Paul). [Philippians 4:11b (ESV)]
So God has ground some of the bumps of discontent off my rocky road to heaven, and done so with truths that now makes it a smoother road – a road of greater joy to heaven. Sacrosanct truths, like:
An All-Powerful God
No other doctrine supplies more calm than this – “The Lord reigns;” [Psalm 99:1a (ESV)] and “…does whatever He pleases”. [Psalm 115:3b (NASB)] Why, He is exalted in His own strength. [cf. Psalm 21:13a] To question that the labor of my life is somehow misguided and God somehow made a mistake in doing what I do is a burden no saved soul should have to bear. In His “…book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them”. [Psalm 139:16b (ESV)] And form He did, even my work, all in His power, all in His reign, all in His strength. O’ to rest in work, the irony of it all, because He created it all. He created work and gave me a job, a job to do, and do I shall, “…with all my might”. [Ecclesiastes 9:10a (ESV)] I love the serenity in work… I love my life.
A Thankful Heart
No other doctrine supplies more joy than this - “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving…” [Psalm 50:14a (NASB)] The two go hand in hand, one with the other – joy and thanksgiving, thanksgiving and joy. [cf. Psalm 42:4; Psalm 107:22] And thanks for what? For “Every good thing…” [James 1:17a (ESV)], because it “…is from above” [Ibid.]. Work, good? O’ yes. From the birth of time “God’s creative activity is described… as ‘his work’” [*], and He then called it “good” [Genesis 1:4,10,12,18,21,25], “very good” [Genesis 1:31]. Afterward, that workmanship was entrusted to His custodians – you and me. Work, joined with the divine. Work, joined with the creation. Work, joined with the image bearer. To give thanks for the occasion, for the privilege, for the honor of work… His work. I love the delight in work… I love my life.
A Needful Call
No other doctrine supplies more meaning than this – “…whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” [I Corinthians 10:31b (ESV)] My career, most of it, was spent downcast. Downcast because of “the higher calling”, or so I thought. That to work in the church, in the mission, in the ministry was more needful than the work out “there” – begging God day in and day out to pull me out and put me in. I asked for bread, and thought He gave me a stone; for fish, and thought He gave me a serpent. [cf. Matthew 7:9] But did He? The whole time I was always in and never out. How can that be? Because the work was ordered and the work was gifted by God Himself – reflecting the very glory of Him. O’ the lives, the countless lives of gospel work out there – year, after year, after year. What a needful call, and what glory in the work. I love God’s glory in work… I love my life.
So whether Monday morning or Friday evening, Wednesday afternoon or Saturday noon, Sunday service or Workday service, the all-of-life, every day of it is a joy under an all-powerful God, a thankful heart and a needful call - none of it at the expense of the other, and all to the glory of Another.
“During the year 1957, I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life. At that time, in gratitude, I humbly asked to be given the means and the privilege to make others happy through music. I feel this has been granted through His grace.
ALL PRAISE TO GOD…
This album is a humble offering to Him. An attempt to say, ‘THANK YOU GOD’ through our work, even as we do in our hearts and with our tongues. May He help and strengthen all men in every good endeavor.”
~ John Coltrane, excerpt, linear note to “A Love Supreme”
Thomas Kruggel is a Non-Vocational Elder/Pastor at Grace Bible Church
* V.P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1-17 (Eerdmans, 1990), Page 142.
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