God Labors In Everyone

It’s Labor Day Weekend, the unofficial end of summer – the last big weekend outdoor woo-rah before getting serious about school again. It’s one of those national (federal) holidays since 1894 that got caught up in the Monday, floating date, three-day weekend known as the “Uniform Monday Holiday Act” signed into law June 1968 and was enacted January 1, 1971. To me, September 1^st is Labor Day and that’s that! It’s also my brother’s birthday, my mother’s first child labor day. Her father and mother would always take my brother to the New York State Fair on his birthday. September 1^st was the last day of the fair and it didn’t matter what day of the week it landed on. The only time there was a three-day weekend was when September 1^st landed on a Friday or Monday; otherwise the next day was a work-day or the first day of school. That’s the way it was. Convenience has a way of changing things. I’m glad God’s rules are never-changing.

[Matthew 23:11-14] “The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. ‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those who are trying to.’” It never fails to amaze me how God can work in our lives. In fact, how He works in the lives of all people. I suppose one of the things I struggle with in Christian living is that sometimes we put shutters over our eyes when it comes to the power of God and those we think are beyond help. Throughout the scriptures there were people who refused to believed that God could work in the lives of people that they didn’t feel were worthy of God’s attention. Jesse didn’t believe that David was the king that God was looking for when Samuel came to visit. The Pharisees didn’t believe that the woman “caught” in adultery was worthy of God’s grace. The Israelites didn’t believe Moses would be able to lead them out of slavery in Egypt when God had commanded him to do it. And, of course, the Jews did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God. My question is, always, why? Why is it that we refuse to believe that God can work in someone’s life? Is it because we feel they don’t deserve it? I suspect it’s because we feel better than them. We look down on them maybe. The truth is this: Jesus came to seek and save the lost. He came to attend to those who needed a physician. He came for the sick, not the healthy. The irony is those who are “healthy” refuse to do the same. They would rather condemn. They would rather lift themselves up instead of lifting up others. They would compromise the needs of those who need help in order to satisfy their own selfish nature. When I read Matthew’s account of the seven woes (Matthew 23) I’m reminded that I need to do my best not to look down on others. At the same time, I can’t sacrifice what I know to be right. Hard to manage? You bet! But I must strive to do my best. I know I’m not perfect, never have been and I’ll never be as long as I roam this earth in this body. But I also know God has done some really beautiful things in my life and it would be more of a shame, more of an evil, more disgusting for me not to share that, because I am weak and frail, than it would be for me to share it in order to encourage others because of His power that is at work in me. Our challenge, my challenge, your challenge is to realize that God can work power, beauty and might in the lives of all people - whether we choose to accept, realize, or acknowledge it! Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in everyone.