The Perfect Job ( conclusion)

7> How do you know you are doing the job you were hired to do? You are usually given a ‘job description’. This job description may be written in complex sentences that go on and on in fine print that lose you halfway down the page… or it may be outdated …or you find the job you are actually asked to do doesn’t match what you were told you would be doing, or the job may have changed since the description was written - so even though you have something on paper… it may or may not be useful in helping you do your job.
As a labourer in God’s kingdom, the job description does not change and it is written so that you can understand it. You have your own copy, the bible. It contains “all you need for life and godliness” ( II Peter 1:3) - all you need to know to do your job well.
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth !” (II Tim. 2:15)

8> When you work for a firm or company you are expected to be loyal - you could be fired if you are involved in a conflict of interest , or – worse- if you are embezzling funds from your employer.
In God’s kingdom too, you need to be loyal… In Jesus words to Satan who was tempting Him with conflict of interest, He affirmed this truth, “…and Him only you shall serve !” (Matt. 4:10) And in Matt. 6:24 Jesus warns that no one can serve two masters…. you must choose – either God or the master of this world.

9> How often do you hear the phrase, “Good help is hard to find!” In your ‘dream job’ you may need people either under you or as team players to do the job well. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you had perfect help?? And if you did find good people to help you … they are still just that – human- and will fail you . They will not always be there when you need them, or they will make mistakes because of their own imperfections in skill or knowledge.
But, in God’s kingdom you always have available to you the best possible help you could wish for. The Holy Spirit was given to you to comfort and teach and direct and guide and to do through you what you could never do on your own !! How wonderful is that !
One day Peter and Paul went to the temple to pray . On arriving at the temple gate they came upon a man who had been born lame, and every day was carried to his spot where he begged for alms all day to contribute something to the cost of his care. Peter and Paul , when they heard his cries for a few coins, stopped. They had no money at all… what could they do? They had the power of the Holy Spirit, and they listened to the Holy Spirit’s prompting and said to the lame man. “We have no money to give you at all… but what we do have we will give you !! Get up and walk !!” ( I can only imagine the joy of that lame man to be freed from the drudgery of day after day sitting in the same spot begging the same people for a few coins. I don’t believe that he went to bed that night… I think he just kept running in circles around the village- his joyful shouting probably keeping everyone else awake too !)
Whatever it is that God has for you to do…He will enable you and help you through the power of the Holy Spirit within you… know it and believe it with Paul who declared - “I can do all things through Christ , which strengthens me !” ( Phil. 4:13)

10> The whole purpose or reason for having a job is to earn money ! How long would you work if there was no monetary reward for the job you are doing? Working is all about having the financial security you need to sustain the standard of living you desire, and to lay up for the future – hoping that your savings will not be destroyed by inflation or a stock market crash !.
You may not always feel your wages are fair… and you may dread the yearly evaluation to determine if you are doing your job satisfactorily , but you keep working because you ‘need the money’
In God’s kingdom, the wages paid are always fair…. God will reward you according to how well you have done the work He gave you to do. And in God’s kingdom bank there is no danger of your savings being devalued by inflation…Jesus says in John 4:36 that the wages paid to the labourors working in His field are good for eternity ! And in Matt. 6:19,20 Jesus speaks of the unstableness of earthly treasure and contrasts it with the eternal treasure we lay up for ourselves in heaven.
There is a story told that perhaps you have heard but it bears repeating.
A wealthy man died and went to heaven. An angel was showing him the celestial city and they came to a magnificent mansion. The man asked “Who lives there?”
The angel guide answered ,”Well, on earth he was a gardener.”
The answer excited the man and he thought if that was what a gardener lives in , what would his mansion look like? They came across another , even more magnificent mansion and the man eagerly asked , “Awesome! Who lives here?”
"She was a worker in an orphanage,” was the angel’s rely.
The rich man was really excited now… he could not wait to see what his mansion would be like . Finally, they came to a tiny , eight-by-eight shack with no windows and only a piece of cloth for a door, by far the most modest home they had come across.
Reluctantly, he asked , “And who lives here?”
The angel guide held his hand out to the bungalow and said, “This, sir, is your home!”
“I don’t understand,” protested the bewildered man, “Why is my home so humble in comparison to the others?”
The angel guide replied, “Well sir, I am sorry but that is all we could build with what you sent us to work with.”
Are you so preoccupied with making this life comfortable , that you have neglected to ‘lay up for yourself treasure in heaven , where neither moth mor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal… for where your treasure is , there will your heart be also“ (Matt.6:19,20)
And in God’s kingdom there will also one day be an evaluation – ( I Cor. 3:13) One day what you have done will be made public for all to see , whether it was good or bad and your ‘wages’ will be accordingly. Are you doing the work you were called to do , or are you side-tracked into following your own pleasures?
The most important ‘work’ you are called to do is to ‘believe in Him’. ( John 6:29) Your faith in God, trusting Him in all areas of your life is the ‘work of God’ . Nothing is more important.


Perhaps you haven’t thought about your walk with the Lord from the perspective presented in this little study .
May it challenge and encourage you to -
“work for the night is coming when no man can work” ( John 9:4)