Today’s Scripture Reading (January 24,
2015): Colossians 3
As a teen, I
worked in a fast food restaurant. It was my first job and I remember thinking to
myself as I was working those first few shifts that this was somehow qualitatively
different from any place I had ever been before. These people were paying me
real money to do the job that I was doing. And if I wanted the money, I needed
to respect that. This particular restaurant was managed by hired managers, although
it wasn’t a company store – a store owned directly by the franchise. The owners
just didn’t live in the city in which I lived (actually, they didn’t even live
in the country in which I lived.) And so we didn’t see much of the ones who
were really paying the bills; we saw and dealt with the hired managers. But I
remember the first day that I was on the floor when one of the owners showed.
Actually, he was the son of the owner who probably only had shares in the
company by virtue of his relationship with his dad. And when he walked into the
restaurant, he took control. He was impeccably dressed, with rings on his
fingers and even furs for him and his wife to wear in our northern climate (although
I don’t remember it being particularly cold that day). And he looked really out
of place with the rest of the clientele that we served. I mean, this was not a
fancy restaurant, it was fast food. And it seemed that from the first moment
that he entered the store, everyone was nervous. This guy was one of the people
who seem to never be happy with anything. Whatever it was that we were doing,
it just was not good enough. And when he finally left the restaurant and got
into his brand new luxury car and drove away, it felt like even the building
breathed a sigh of relief.
A few weeks
later my manager came up to me and tapped me on the shoulder and told me that
the owner was in the building. Not the son who had showed up a few weeks
earlier, but the owner, the big guy, the one who seemed to hold the fate of the
world in his hands. My eyes immediately went to the front of the restaurant, searching
the faces, trying to identify the one with all the power, but I couldn’t see
anyone that would meet my expectations of the one who would be the father of
the son that I had met a few weeks earlier. I looked back at my manager and she
smiled, and reading my question she pointed to a guy who was placing an order
at one of the tills up front. He was an older gentlemen, and he wore a plaid
button up shirt and a pair blue jeans. When he stepped away from the till, I
would see that his blue jeans ended with a pair of beat-up sneakers (comfortable
shoes he called them.) He was leaning on the counter and telling the person taking
his order a joke, but he was struggling getting through the joke without
laughing himself. No one seemed nervous, in fact, everyone rather gravitated
toward him. He shook hands and laughed – and in a mysterious way he fit in with
the rest of the store. If I had not been told that this was the
multi-millionaire who owned the place, I would never have known. On the
outside, there was just nothing special about him. He was extremely comfortable
in his own skin and seemed to have no reason to want to prove anything about
himself. It seemed almost impossible that this was the father of the impeccably
dressed snob who everyone had been afraid of only weeks earlier.
Every time I
read this passage, this the image that comes to mind. When you work, work as if
it is God that you are working for – because that is the truth. But the problem
is that you may not recognize him. Unlike earthly masters who want you to know
who they are, God fits in. He isn’t terribly concerned with the way he looks to
us. If he was, I think the Bible would read a lot differently. He is God, the
creator of everything, so he really has nothing to prove. You may not notice
him when you are working at the job site – but he is there. And he is noticing
what it is that you are doing.
On that day
many years ago, the day when the boss walked in, I remember wanting to be
around him, wanting to be noticed by him. When his son had left the store
earlier, I was happy that he was gone, but not so with dad. I wanted dad to
stick around a little longer. It seemed to be very easy to work for him – maybe
partially because he seemed so interested in me.
This is our
God. He is the ruler of the universe, and yet he came down to us. He put on his
blue jeans, his plaid button up shirt and comfortable shoes just so that he
could communicate with us. And he is interested in all that we are. And when we
do our work for him, it is easy. Because he has taken notice of us in all of
our situations – and we have always wanted to be noticed by him.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading:
Colossians 4
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