Working Hard

“You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
Acts 20:34-35

It had been a long week, the kind of week that occupies my mind so that things like this devotion end up being late according to my timing. The “business” of church is hard work, it can exhaust you mentally, physically, emotionally and yes even spiritually – sometimes. Do not in any way take that as a complaint – I love what I do and where I am doing it – it’s just the reality of “doing church”. I love that I get to use all of my gifts everyday to care for the church and the people who walk into my office. Yes it is hard work, exhausting and sometime painful but, it is also so satisfying and worth it. I think that’s how Paul felt about it too and his job was a lot rougher than mine, a lot rougher than most people’s jobs.

In this week’s passage Paul is saying goodbye to a group of church elders from Ephesus. Paul is encouraging them to keep up the work they had started no matter how hard things got. Reminding them of how he lived and worked hard, despite all of the difficulties he had and would continue to face. In the face of everything I am confident that on those nights where sleep actually found Paul – that he rested satisfied, that he was using the gifts he had been given, working hard to do the work that he had been called to do and that lives were being changed – including his own.

What about you? Are you working hard or hardly working? Maybe you think you are too old to make a difference in someone else’s life. Maybe you are just trying to make it through each day and put food on your table, feeling like there is nothing left to do any more. Maybe you are working hard, but feel overwhelmed by all the need you see around you. Paul got all of his strength from God and he had made sure that these elders, indeed everyone who we might say “worked” for him and with him, knew that that power and strength was available to them as well. To this particular group he told them “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32).

Whatever you do, work at it with God’s strength. Work hard - to be the best version of yourself and to make a difference in the lives of those around you.

A Prayer
Father, thank you for gifts you have given us and for the things that you have called us to do. Give us the strength we need to work hard and to continue working hard when we are overwhelmed by the needs we see around us. Thank you also for the rest that you bring to us and for the satisfaction that comes in the giving of ourselves to others. Show us where are gifts are most needed. In name of Jesus, who set for us an example of working hard – Amen.