Shut Up

Shut up Walker.

He didn't say it, but I knew it was what he was thinking. At the least that's what I was thinking as I looked into his eyes. The man staring me down was my former Sunday school teacher. He wasn't the most educated guy. He had spent his life farming and pouring concrete. At 6' 4'' and a solid 300lbs, he was an intimidating sight. I suddenly remembered a lesson he taught on anger where he related that he had once lost his temper and thrown a piece of rebar that nearly hit one of his co-workers. Now I was one of his co-workers and he had another piece of rebar in his hand.

Shut up Walker.

I was nineteen, home for the summer and working construction. It was early July, we were pouring concrete, and it was hot. I was a young Christian, full of zeal and excitement and ready to condemn anyone that didn't produce regular displays of outward excitement and spirituality. For some reason I had been reading through the book of Ecclesiastes, not exactly a fun read. However as a sarcastic know it all college student coming to understand the complete vanity of everyone in the working world compared to us righteous college students with plans to take mission trips and join the peace corps, I was eating it up.

That fateful day I began the morning with a reading that included Ecclesiastes 2:22. "What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun?" I had been having a lot of good talks with Bob, my former Sunday school teacher and current foreman. Seeing as it was hot and we were toiling under the sun, I thought it would be fun to share this verse with him, and jokingly explained how vain all our work was.

Yes, I took that passage out of context. Did I mention I am describing my early college years with some sarcasm? In case you couldn't tell I was kind of dumb.

Bob stopped working, took one look at me, and said "I don't know what the hell you're doing, but I'm trying to feed my family."

SHUT UP WALKER!!!

Thankfully I did shut up, and Bob, being far more mature than I, did not throw the rebar in his hand. I went back to work and spent the rest of the day in thought.

As Christians it is so easy to hold up certain occupations as holier than others. Pastors, missionaries, Christian rock stars, these are the people that really live out God's call for their lives. These are the people really doing God's work. Those other folk that try to get ahead in business or go to work in a factory every day are worldly and missing out on the true life of a Christian.

One of the greatest things I've learned since that hot July day is just how stupid that last paragraph is. God calls each of us to a vocation. These are as varied as the human race, and often we'll have more than one vocation at once. I'm in the process of beginning a career as a teacher and recently married the woman I love. Husband and teacher are now my primary vocations.

How do I serve God? I love and support my wife. I teach children. I do all this to the best of my ability because I'm actually doing all this for God. Christ has reconciled all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross. Now I, who was alienated from God am now holy and blameless and beyond reproach not by anything I've done but through everything He did. This is how I live the Christian life; this is how I serve God.

I'm really glad Bob shut me up.

Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:17-24

Oh, one last thing. If you really want to read that passage properly, you need to understand this is one of those big "therefore" statements Paul loves. To see what he's pointing at, open up Colossians 1 and have a look, I sort of alluded to it in the blog. Enjoy!