How important is your job?

            Most people would say that depends on what your job is.  And that is so as far as it goes.  In reality though, all Christians have more than one job.  There is of course the job that you do in order to function in the world.  That is a job that provides material income by which you can live in this world.  Those jobs vary greatly of course, and since they are all by definition secular, they are appropriately valued from a secular perspective.  That is to say, a medical doctor’s job is more valuable than shall we say a roofer’s job.  That is so because we value human life more than we do our roofs generally speaking and especially if it is our own life.  Another way we consider worth in the secular world is by how much money our jobs produce for us.  By that standard, the work of certain sports personalities and movie stars is far more valuable than almost any job in the world!  Never mind the fact that all they are doing is playing or in some cases playing around!  Other factors that must be considered of course are relative risk, competitiveness, interest etc. These and a host of other factors set the worth of a given job at a given time.  So in the world, it is most certainly true that one person’s job is more important than another’s.  Therefore your secular job may or may not be all that important in the world. 

            But if you are a Christian you have another job.  A far more important job no matter what your secular job might be.  That job is the same as all other Christian’s jobs.  And they are all of the same worth.  So what is our job as Christians?  We are to live for Jesus, and share him with others.  It is as simple as that.  The details of how we are to do that vary from Christian to Christian.  For instance, there are Christians whose specific task is to preach to masses of people the good news of Jesus Christ.  That sounds important.  Others are given the task of sharing in places like jails or schools or industry.  Some teach and preach in churches.  Then there are those whose task it has been to die for their faith (Any volunteers).  For many the task is simply to share the good news of Jesus Christ with friends and family.   The variety of tasks is endless, but the jobs are ultimately all the same, and of the same worth.  IN every case the job is to influence others to know Jesus Christ.  As with any job, we need both on the job training and education.  Thus the Bible was given to us to read and understand.  Jesus established the church and ordained it with the oversight of seeing that the job of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ is carried throughout the world.  

            How should that make you feel Christian?  It should make us feel greatly important!  What you do impacts eternity for someone or ones.  That’s bigger than a multi-million dollar contract with a ball club or movie!  You are special and important.  It should also challenge us to take our jobs seriously.  Are we training properly and preparing for the task for which we have been chosen?  Are we performing the task? If not, get busy.  Read your Bible, go to church, and make sure you are praying for God’s direction regarding your all important job.  Then make sure you show up and perform!

I love being your pastor,

Russ