Job Assignment

My nephew’s wife taught fourth grade. She was the teacher every parent requested. She was bright, warm, nurturing, laughed easily, related to kids incredibly well, creative beyond belief, worked long hours after school and on weekends.

After a few years, she had a baby and decided to stay home. What a switch. You have parents who adore you; kids who worship you, want to hold your hand, sit by your desk. Your creative genes are in over drive. You are fulfilled to the max and then it all comes to a screeching halt.

Now you change poopy diapers. You burp a baby who responds by belching half digested milk all over your shoulder. You rise three times a night to feed a screaming infant who can’t even focus his eyes on you much less say, "Thanks so much mom. You are the absolute greatest, most gorgeous woman on the face of the earth."

No accolades from your husband either. He rolls over in the morning and says, "Well, that wasn’t such a bad night...I didn’t hear him once…did he sleep through the night?" Right. Or, “What have you been doing all day?” Well, you feed, burp, diaper, clean up, wash, feed, burp, diaper, clean up, wash, feed, burp, diaper, clean up.....

It was after a few months of this that she finally told my sister she had changed her mind about mothering full time. It was all in the attitude. She now considered being a mother and a wife, her full time job much like her school job was with just as high a calling. Just as she had viewed her teaching as an area in which she was gifted and able to use her talents, now she would view this job in the same way. She would use a different skill set with the same intensity, just a different audience....a kid, a husband and anyone else whose lives she touched. All the creativity she had applied to teaching would be applied to her present job. Pretty amazing, huh!

The lesson in Luke 19 affirms this thought. A nobleman was going to a distant country so he called ten slaves and gave them ten minas (three months’ wages) each and said to them, "Do business with this (invest this) until I come back."

When he returned from his trip, he called the slaves in. The first increased his master’s investment by ten minas. The second by five minas. The third slave earned nothing because he had hidden his money. The master rewarded the first with ten cities, the second with five cities.

He was not happy with number three.

A sovereign God has either placed you where you are or allowed you to be in that position. He has given each of us talents. Whether the world sees you or only one cross eyed baby sees you is irrelevant. You are given talents by God Almighty and that is the Master you are accountable to, the One you are working for.

So are you working or whining? Have you done an attitude check lately much less tallied your earnings on His investment? Are you taking your on-the-job problems to Him to work out? Have you given them to him and left them with him? Are you checking in throughout the day for guidance, strength, perseverance, encouragement, direction?

A few years ago, I was applying for a job in a couple of hospitals near our home. It became increasingly obvious that God was closing all the doors. Through a series of events, I realized I was supposed to stay home.

Now there was no one at home, not even a dog. Last kid had left for college. I had shot the one white cat who came over to eat the birds feeding in the back yard. Just kidding! My husband left at 6 and came home at 5. God said to write...something I’d never seriously done before. Took me three months just to master sitting. It took me six months to take this as a serious assignment from Him. And except for an occasional friend, the only one who read what I’d written was my mother. What was the point?

Why was I doing this for an audience of one, with no salary, and bills from my son’s university arriving on a regular basis? Because God gave me that assignment for that year.

This is the lesson of Luke 19. We need to realize who we really work for. Our needs will be supplied by an all knowing Father (Matt 6:8) as we present them to Him. Any changes in our present situation need to be made by Him or not made at all. Any benefits, blessings or hard lessons learned should be directly attributed to Him. This takes our assignments to a whole new level doesn’t it.

When we meet Jesus face to face and He asks for an accounting of the talents He gave us, the positions He put us in to use them, what will we hand Him? Ten times what He gave us or will we just hand the talent back to Him unused, the potential unfulfilled, no ripple effect, no nothing.

We may not have been assigned the world to change. We may have just been given one baby, the checker at the grocery store, the girl at the cleaners, the moms and babies at the park, a high school class, an unloved elementary student, a friend at the gym, patients in a hospital. The point is....what have we done with our assignment? What gifts will we joyfully present to Jesus one day....our thank you for His intervention in our lives, His faithfulness, His love to us.

This only works if you are in a relationship with Him. “God, until you move me, every day, may I look to You as the one who has me right here for a reason…whether it’s to change me or impact someone else. You know how it fits into your plan. I trust your plan.”

“God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God’s generosity can flow through you. Are you called to be a speaker? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Are you called to help others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then God will be given glory in everything through Jesus Christ. All glory and power belong to him forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 4:10-11