Back in the “We Were Soldiers” series (the fourth one to be specific), I was making the point that at some point we have to deal with things and move on. As an example, I mentioned a guy in my office. Here, let me go get it and stick right in here for reference…I’ll be sure to note it in my bibliography so that I’ve given myself full credit and won’t sue myself later for plagiarizing myself. I’m the sort of guy that would do that, by the way, if I added bibliographies…reference myself. And probably think it was funny. But anyway, the referenced paragraph is:
But how long do we stand there complaining about what got us here instead of just dealing with it and moving forward? To point some generic fingers, there’s a guy in my office that will call me over to see something quirky with how our program is behaving. “See, when I do this, it does this…and when I do that, it does that. Have you ever seen it do that?” Well, no – but apparently this one is doing it, so I suggest not doing that. “Well that’s just weird! When I do this, it does this…and when I do that, it does that.” And instead of just grabbing the bull by his proverbial horns and just avoiding the “when I do that it does that” scenario, he’ll go back and forth between the two probably a dozen times just griping that it happens every time it happens.
And I recently had a moment of self-reflection and confession. I’m not that guy…but I’m that guy. When I originally wrote that paragraph, I was talking about someone else using our computer program. But as I recently went on yet another “this guy is so lazy” rant about another particular guy in my department, I realized that I am that guy. Glass houses, throwing stones. Pots and Kettles. Irony. Hypocrisy. Whatever you want to call it. I had that out-of-body experience where I looked back at myself realized that as I was sitting there typing devotionals about a guy using a program and NOT getting over it and moving on with it, I’m doing the same thing about a lazy coworker. He’s lazy, Dwayne! Deal with it and move on!
And that’s not to say that he doesn’t still aggravate me. It’s that quintessential, stereotypical “lazy coworker” that we all know…unless you ARE the “lazy coworker”. You poke, you prod, you flat-out call him out, and yet he still stands there like a cow slowly chewing his cud with no intention of ever picking up the pace regardless of all you’ve tried. And I sat right here at the office one day and wrote that paragraph above without ever realizing that I’m doing the exact same thing. And it’s really easy to say “Get over it! Move on!” like I said about the guy and the program, but that doesn’t make it easy to do. Because without fail whenever he’s sitting back with his feet kicked up letting us others drag him along, I go into my same old rant. But for whatever reason (I lean toward the Holy Spirit) one day I had that realization. Then I had a couple of verses come to mind.
First was Colossions 3, 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. And along those same lines, Philippians 2, 14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. And while it may seem like a stretch to look at a lazy coworker through the eyes of “working for the Lord” and “Do everything without grumbling”, it’s not such a stretch when I realize that most of my failings of the tongue…the UN-Christian words from my mouth…lack of ”gum control”, if you will, happen to come when I’m the middle of one of those tired, old rants.
Am I one of the laborers that got there early? “Hey, C’Mon, Jesus! I’ve been doing alllll of this work, and this guy just worked one hour!” And, yeah, I know that’s about salvation and people that are saved first and later and whatnot – but doesn’t the Bible have truths that can be applied on multiple levels? And if I’m working as though I’m working for God, and not necessarily working for my company, might I be a little more patient when things come up that normally ruffle my feathers. And to be honest, they ruffle a lot more easily these days than they used to. And if instead of showing up at the office and doing my job for “THE MAN”, I acted like Colossians 3 tells me to and worked at it with all my heart, as working for the Lord, perhaps, just perhaps, I wouldn’t be so quick-tempered.
And the skeptics among you…and those with “lazy coworkers” of your own to deal with are saying, “well, yeah, that’s all fine and good…but why isn’t THAT guy acting like he’s working for the Lord?! Huh, Smart Guy? Riddle me THAT, Batman!” And to those of you that think that way and to myself because that’s how I’ve looked at it for a long time, I’d ask you to pause a minute and listen to the other verse that came to mind.
Listen for the Whisper of John 21. The Whisper of John 21:21 when Peter asks a resurrected Jesus, “What about HIM?” and then the Whisper of John 21:22 when Jesus essentially asks Peter right back, “what about him?”…His exact words, “What is that to you?” And there’s the reference for the devotional title. What Jesus has asked of you, He has asked personally of you. Paul had a thorn in his side and prayed for it to be removed. God said, “no, my Grace is sufficient”. My thorn is my temper. My thorn is my lack of patience. And when it comes to lazy people not pulling their fair share of the weight, I lose both very quickly. Who am I to say that God hasn’t directly planted these trials in my path. “Here’s this. How do you handle it?” Not like the Christian I’m supposed to be should handle it, that’s how…more like Buford T. Justice.
Is that to say that we should just accept lazy people and let them ride coattails while others do all the work? Absolutely not. The Bible says much about laziness, but that’s not where I’m pointing the accusatory finger today…today I’m pointing it at me. Because it also says much about how I’m supposed to treat other people. And instead of firing off hot-headed emails, or calling them on the phone and jumping down their throats, perhaps we should take a deep breath and approach them Christian to Christian and bring the Word to help you. And ask the Spirit to guide your tongue, instead of letting it waggle freely to say whatever it wants. And if they don’t respond to that? “What is that to you?” Do I have a license to be hateful? No. Do I have the right to treat him as though I never knew Jesus? No. My issues are my temper, my patience, and my tongue. And I struggle and fail those tests regularly. So who am I to judge someone who regularly fails the tests of sloth and laziness? Are their short-comings worse than mine? No. And lastly is it fair that they get away with doing so little? Again, it’s an obvious and resounding NO. But was Daniel treated fairly? Was Paul being beaten repeatedly fair? Was Samson’s death fair? Was Peter supposedly crucified upside-down fair? Was Stephen’s stoning fair? Was Isaac on Abraham’s altar fair? Was Uzzah’s death after catching the Ark fair? Was John the Baptist’s beheading fair? Was the death of every first-born in Egypt – and that includes the Egyptian families that had NOTHING to do with Pharaoh’s hard heart – was the death of their children fair? Was Saul’s hatred of David fair? Was Jesus’ crucifixion fair? No. None of those were what we’d call “fair”.
So why do we treat “unfair” as permission to forget we’re Christians. Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Nothing there about “except when we think things aren’t fair.”
~Dwayne
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