JOSEPH, A WORKER FOR GOD’S KINGDOM
Jn. 6:1-15
Last century, there was a famous French philosopher who wrote in one of his books, “From my five years of experience as a philosopher, I have come to realize that you can work for only sixteen weeks within the year and you will be able to survive. The rest of the weeks of the year I spend talking to Almighty God. The rest of the weeks of the year, I do not work. I stop working. I only work for sixteen weeks of the year.
This is a very challenging concept. But actually, this idea did not originally come from this French thinker. Two thousand years ago, there was another man, who was not a philosopher, who was not well educated, but who also realized that there should be a balance in life between work, leisure, and prayer. That man is Joseph, the husband of Mary and the foster-father of Jesus.
Joseph knew that work should take priority in our lives, but work should not be number one. Joseph knew that work was only number three. The first priority is God. The second priority is our fellow men.
We work to get to God. We work to serve other people. And then, ask yourself on this Labor Day, “Why do I work?” Chances are there will be varied answers. We will answer, “I have to work because I have so many credit cards. I have to work because I have so many loans to pay. I have to work because I have so many debts to pay.”
My dear brothers and sisters, this is not the reason for working. Perhaps on Labor Day, we can challenge ourselves and ask, “Isn’t it high time that I simplify my life? Have I become a victim of consumerism? That I have to work and work because I have to pay and pay.
If you have less desires, you won’t have to pay and pay. And if you don’t have to pay and pay, you don’t have to work and work and work.
It is very simple. Our lives have been impaled on consumerism. That is why we have to work. But to work is not to pay. Work is not for loans. Work is not for cars. Work is not for real estate. Work is to give glory to God.
If you work but you fail to give glory to God then, you are missing the whole purpose of working.
Isn’t it true, my dear brothers and sisters, that we hardly have time to pray because we have to work overtime? Some of you work so hard, that you even bring your work home. Some work until early morning to rake in more overtime pay. Some work on Sundays, because the boss is impressed with a hard worker.
Who ever told you that you have to work seven days a week? No one. God in fact tells us, “you must find time to rest.”
Why are you working? Is it for pay?
When you work for God work becomes a vacation.
– Only Jesus, Always Jesus