Not My Job

As many of you know, I was a banker before I entered the ministry. I once had an employee who was especially challenging. He was good at his job. He worked well with the other employees. He was punctual. In fact, on the surface he seemed to be the model employee. However, it didn’t take long for his true colors to show.

As I stated he was good at his job. He performed his job description well, but it ended there. If he was asked to do anything outside of his job description he was quick to tell me that it wasn’t his job. He simply refused to do anything besides what was in his employment contract. At times I wanted to fire him, but I couldn’t. His production was good and he was doing well in all the areas where we measured his performance.

I think the driver of a bus in Texas, last week, must have had the same attitude. This driver was taking a group of prisoners from the state prison in Huntsville, Texas to Dallas. However, the prisoners were dropped off in front of a convenience store about sixty miles outside of Dallas. She said her hours for the day were over.

Police said the bus was chartered from Greyhound Bus Lines Inc. The driver pulled over in front of a convenience store around 4 p.m. and told the passengers her allotted driving time was up and another driver was on the way.

A clerk in the convenience store called the police. Officers arrived to find the prisoners milling around the bus. Dispatchers exchanged several phone calls with Greyhound and prison officials while two officers stayed with the bus and the passengers until another bus could arrive.

Do you know any people like that? Do you know any Christians like that? Do you know any church members like that? Are you, perhaps, one of them?

What makes us think that in our walk with Christ we can just get by with the minimum? Yes, we are saved by grace. Yes, our sins are covered by the blood of Jesus. Yes, we can never be taken from His hand once we accept Him and truly believe. Unfortunately for some of us, it doesn’t end there.

We are not brought into God’s family and then expected to just bask in the knowledge that we are children of the King. We are also given tasks. We have a commission from our Father to go out to the world and bring others in. He wants us to go above and beyond just being His children. He wants us to also be ambassadors for Him.

Can we just accept Christ, do nothing else and still go to Heaven? Yes, but God wants and expects more from us. He wants us to put action behind our faith in Him. What good is good news if you can’t share it with anyone? It’s like the preacher who called in sick from church to play golf. He sneaked out to a golf course in another county, and played the best round of his life. He even got a hole-in-one on #18. In Heaven, Peter asked God why He allowed the pastor to have such a great game since he had lied to his congregation. Peter thought he should have been punished. God said “I am punishing him. Who’s he going to brag to about his great game today?”

We have the greatest gift inside of us. We need to share it, not hoard it. I challenge you to ask God to engineer circumstances so you will have opportunities to share Christ with others.

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. (James 2:14-19)