I have another story for you.
Years and years ago, in a very remote and primitive jungle area, a frustrated foreman had been hired from outside the region to supervise the clearing of an airstrip for the off-the-grid village. He soon discovered that if he were not physically present to oversee the work crew, no work would be accomplished. None. Even when he left explicit orders and detailed instructions, the men lounged around, took naps, and played cards as soon as the manager drove off for supplies or was otherwise engaged.
But this clever boss held a wild card.
He had a glass eye!
To his amazement and great satisfaction, he took out his artificial eye one afternoon and set it on a stump alongside the field that was to be leveled. He strode away. The wary workers, eyeing the prosthesis, conscientiously hustled and bustled about their duties all day just as if their boss was there watching them.
Until the day one of the men quite bravely crept up behind the shiny eye on the stump and tossed his hat over it!
The poker game was back on. Time to gossip at the water cooler once more.
It’s a funny story, right? But I think there is more to it than a smile.
I think many of us, consciously or not, have “covered the eye” and gone back to lounging around when we should be working.
We are lazy.
Paul Tripp, New Morning Mercies, says it is the bad news that we need, but don’t really want to think about. We agree the workers in that far off village were lazy, but the truth is, if sin lives in us, laziness will be a problem for us all.
Dr. Tripp explains. “Now, because as a sinner I tend to make life all about me, I work to avoid anything that is hard or uncomfortable to do. I tend to curse hard work, the need to serve others, the call to persevere, the inescapable reality of suffering, the requirement of daily labor, the call to engage myself in the work of a bigger kingdom than my own, or the moral requirements to use my gifts for the glory of someone other than myself.
“There are ways in which sin makes us all work avoiders. It tends to make us all think that the good life is the life free of the need for labor. But the fact of the matter is that we were created to work, and not just for the good of our own lives, but in willing and joyful submission to the One who created us. Work is not a curse; it is our created identity…Until grace has completed its work, we will tend to find work more of a burden than a calling and a joy. Grace and grace alone is able to make otherwise lazy people industrious workers to the glory of God.”
That’s what I’d rather be, wouldn’t you? The Jews in Nehemiah’s story, attacked, abused, and thwarted at every turn, certainly were industrious laborers as they rebuilt Jerusalem and the temple of God.
I think it would help us to keep in mind that all work is Kingdom work. And that our real Boss is the King of Kings. Work is not secular or sacred. It is all sacred.
There is something else to remember.
For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. (2 Chronicles 16:9)
As His workers, His ever-watchful eye is trained on us, not in anger or simply to keep us in line, but to help us accomplish the tasks He so wisely and graciously planned for us before we were born. What a beautiful thought! Long before I knew Him, He had already purposed my daily chores, my jobs, my service. He cares what I do. He is watching out for me. He will help me, support me. He will give me grace.
Oh, how can I be lazy or careless or discontented or disillusioned or nonchalant or self-seeking in whatever task He has chosen for me?
I will weed for His glory. I will scrub for His glory. I will teach for His glory. I will drive the bus for His glory. I will answer the phone, prepare the reports, crunch the numbers, drill the tooth, care for that patient, foster that child, spread mulch at church, and preach that sermon—all to the glory of God, for the advancement of His Kingdom right here and now.
There is a lot of Kingdom work to do. He has a lot of grace to give.
And He’s the Boss.
You can never really cover the eye.
—Eileen Hill
