Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Monday, 23 June 2014 "Success (by God's measure) in our work"

Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Monday, 23 June 2014 "Success (by God's measure) in our work"
Daily Scripture:  Proverbs 16:3 Commit your deeds to Yahweh,
    and your plans shall succeed.
8 Better is a little with righteousness,
    than great revenues with injustice.
9 A man’s heart plans his course,
    but Yahweh directs his steps.
11 Honest balances and scales are Yahweh’s;
    all the weights in the bag are his work.
Reflection Questions:
The Hebrew sages who compiled Proverbs wrote down general truths about how life works much of the time. (Other books, like Job, were the counterpoint, reminders that life doesn't always work as neatly as we'd like.) "Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will succeed" had to be qualified a bit. Verse 8 showed that some plans (e.g. making profits unrighteously) just couldn't be "committed to the Lord." It was important to define "succeed" on God's terms: "Better a little with righteousness than great profits without justice."
What are the main measures by which you determine "success" in the work you do right now? Do you choose those measures yourself, or does someone else assign them? In what ways can you align those measures with the wisdom of Proverbs? What measures define your long-term vision of a successful life? What role does God's wisdom play in that vision?
In our world, with digital scales and pre-packaged goods, verse 11's stress on "honest balances and scales" may seem trivial. The Message worded it this way: "God cares about honesty in the workplace; your business is his business." Is there any part of your "business" that you'd just as soon leave God out of? How can you more fully work God's measures of success into all your business dealings?
Today's Prayer:
Loving God, my desire is to commit all my work to you. Guide me and give me the inner strength to make any changes I need to in my measures of success in order to do that. Amen.
Insight from Jeanna Repass
Jeanna Repass serves as a leader in Resurrection’s outreach programs to neighborhoods surrounding the Leawood campus.
One of my son Adam’s best friends is a young man named Derek whose father started working as a fry-cook at a McDonald’s when he was fourteen. Eventually through hard work, Derek’s father went to the Mc Donald’s academy and now owns a very successful chain of Mc Donald’s restaurants. Derek is following in his father’s footsteps. After graduating from high school and college, he has attended the official “McDonald’s U” and is working towards being the next owner/operator in the family business.
Even with the line of succession as a part of Derek’s path, Derek is working his way through the ranks. He works every shift at the restaurant from the early morning shift to the overnight (late-late night) shift. He is the one who covers for any employees that don’t show up for work and at the ripe old age of 24, he is a young man that has over a decade of hard work experience in an industry that many people leave after just a few weeks or months. Many leave claiming that the minimum wage pay is not commiserate with the demanding work load.
Bob Jones of “Gentlemen of the Roundtable” will tell you that the men he works with (all formerly incarcerated) whom are all seeking employment, often turn their backs on a “Mickey-Dees” (Mc Donald’s) job. Some of the men see “hustling” in the streets as a better means of gaining money. Hustling pays more than minimum wage ($7.25 in KS; $7.50 in MO), you set your own hours and you do not have to smile and give good customer service to a rude patron. Why bother standing on your feet for hours slinging burgers and fries for a few bucks?
On the surface – they may have a point. There are a lot of hard-work jobs and hard workers who get paid minimum wage. You certainly can make more money doing a host of other jobs – especially jobs that fall outside of the societal norms and laws. But the issue at hand is not about the minimum wage pay. The real issue for the men of Gentlemen of the Roundtable is the cost that they will pay for the choice of work they decide upon.
“What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?” Mark 8:36
Hard work – honest work – is good work. The scriptures from Proverbs today reinforces this. “Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice”. Prvbs 16:8 I often wonder if angels sometimes visit earth disguised as minimum wage earners – whether at McDonald’s or cleaning a hotel room. There’s always that one worker with the big smile, giving their all to a service job and making someone else’s day with their joyfulness and enthusiasm.
OK – maybe they are not angels in disguise. Maybe they are just like Derek, hard-working people who “get it” and know that: “In their heart, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” Prvbs 16:9. There is honor in good work and God provides the joy along with every other good provision. He loves us enough to have died for us. He loves us enough to provide for us. May you find joy today in all your work, giving praise to God for the journey and the path that he has established for you! Amen.
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