Work life -vs- REAL life

"He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." 1 John 5:12

This post has nothing to do with music but it is something weighing heavy on my mind and heart. I needed an outlet for it and this blog was chosen for that outlet.

I actually went to bed early last night instead of studying into the wee hours of the morning. I woke up on this fine Saturday morning with tons of things on my mind. As you well know, you have to spend most of your life working and if you are unhappy in your job, you are unhappy in life. I've been deeply bothered lately by some things going on in my work place. There is a constant air of anti-Christian, anti-religion conversation and behaviour going on. They are always trying to find ways to belittle and make fun of everything that I love and believe in. I never say one word negative about their rotten lifestyles or the things that they love and hold dear. Yet they seem to really get a big kick out of making fun of things that they know nothing about. I'm all for freedom of speech but these are supposed to be adults that I work with, but the way they talk/act, you would think they were in the 3rd grade. I realize that my coworkers do not have Christ in their hearts and lives and that is what makes them that way. The odd thing is how rebellious they are toward anything remotely religious or Christian. I've always heard it said that those types of people are the ones that are under conviction the most and it is their way of resisting.

One thing that I find funny is how these people think that they have really "lived," and they think they are so "experienced" in the world. I feel really sorry for them. They think because they have been to a lot of places, seen a lot of stuff, and drank in a lot of bars, that somehow that constitutes them as having life experience. Such meaningless and pathetic lives they lead. Sadly, they know NOTHING about real life experience. You see, all of that stuff isn't worth a hill of beans. Until a person has experienced Christ in their life, they have never lived. Until a person has helped lead someone else to Christ, they know nothing about real life. Until a person has tried to bring comfort and assurance to a dying person or their family, they have not matured. Until you have prayed for another individual and asked God to place their burden on you instead, you know nothing about what it means to live.

I find it laughable that in the work place they think they have really done something if they've sat in a meeting with 15 to 20 people and made a presentation or something. My friend, until you have stood behind a pulpit and preached the Word of God to hundreds of people, you know nothing about making a presentation. Until you have taught Sunday school to fresh young minds and revealed the Word of God to them, you know nothing about dedication. Until you have successfully organized and controlled over 100 kids in Vacation Bible School, you know nothing about organization. In the workplace they consider talking to a customer about something difficult to be really meaningful. Until you have had a 10-year old come to you with tears in their eyes, scared because they have realized that they are going to go to hell unless they are saved and they are counting on you to lead them to Christ, you don't have a clue what meaningful is.

Sadly, it all boils down to selfishness. People are so caught up into what they can do for themselves and what's in it for "me." They are so blinded to the truth and reality. All of the "stuff" that you do while you are living in the present, unless it is Christ focused and driven, means absolutely NOTHING. We are only on this earth for a very short time. After we die, we are going to live eternally either in Heaven or in hell, and that means forever my friend. We need to be focused on the part of our lives that really matter. You see, when it comes to the end and you stand before Christ he is not going to care how many business meetings you attended, how many deals you closed, or how many customers you talked to. What He is going to be interested in is how your life reflected Him.

Fellow Christians, we really need to pray for our lost co-workers and hope that they see the Light before it's too late. I realize they believe themselves to be superior but they are lost and dying and headed to a real hell where they are going to live eternally in pain and suffering. All because they are too proud, too self absorbed, too selfish, to open their eyes and see the truth.

Finally, I want to share an email that I received from my pastor this week. It was in response to an email that I sent to him, complaining about what was going on in my work place. His words helped me more than he will ever know:

Good morning Brother Byron,

I hope that your day is going better than yesterday apparently did. I will be praying for you that you will make a good stand; and I’m sure that you will. I was talking to Carol about what you were facing on your job and that you needed prayer, and she reminded me of a preacher friend of mine, Rev. Jim Hurst, who is gone to be with Jesus now. He gave his testimony about how he came to know the Lord, I wanted to share it with you as best I can, and I hope that maybe you will be encouraged, and get a blessing out of it.

Jim was a barber, and he was also a great singer. He was singing country music with a quartet that had been given an opportunity to go Nashville for an audition for a recording session. He said that he had a brother-in-law that had been trying to lead him to Christ for some time, and he always told him that he didn’t need his religion, he was doing just exactly what he wanted to do. Just a day or two before they were to go to Nashville his brother-in-law came into his barber shop to tell him the story of Jesus again, and he said that he lit in on that man, and he said I cursed him, I cursed his God, his Jesus, his church, his religion, his family, and everything else that I could think of. When he got through with all his cursing, he said I was literally out of breath. My brother-in-law was standing in front of me, just looking at me, weeping, he hadn’t said a word. Then he asked me, Jim, are you ready to get saved now? He said, that's when I began to cry, and I answered him, yes I am. The two of them knelt there on that barber shop floor, and he accepted Jesus into his heart. When he told his quartet what had happened, they weren’t very happy. He said I tried to lead them to Christ, and told them that we could sing gospel music, but they wanted no part of it. Jim finished his race about ten years ago, and he was still Singing and Preaching for Jesus.

I can hardly imagine the grace that it would have taken for his brother-in-law to have stood and endured all that tongue lashing, but I know that, as a good friend of mine recently preached a sermon, “His Grace Is Sufficient.”

Please don’t think that I am trying to make light of your situation, because I’m not. I have been in similar situations many times, and I realize that it’s not easy when you are the one in the pressure cooker. I have always been told that a diamond is no more than a lump of coal that has been under pressure. I believe that those who are making fun and laughing at you are probably using that activity as a shield against Jesus, and that it’s not really you that they resent, but it’s HIM. I will be praying for you, and hopefully we will see you tonight.

Your fellow servant in Christ,
Rev. Dave Hutchison