Unionizing the Workers

Camp will wear you out.  It is often a really good worn out, but it is a wear you out nonetheless.  Anyone who has been involved in camp ministry knows how hard it can be and how much work it is.  When I was a counselor, I would get really tired.  Now I long for the seemingly care free days of being a counselor.  As your responsibility grows, so does the strain.

Serving God will wear you out.  At least it can.  Now I'm not talking about burning out in an unhealthy way, but serving God demands everything.  Those who want to serve God at no personal cost are doing some sort of Western European religion thing, not the Biblical Christianity that the Word talks about.  Jesus says that following Him involves picking up your cross which was not just symbolic.  It meant that Jesus expected that those who followed Him were in it even at the cost of their very lives.  Yet these days a lot of people won't serve Him at the cost of a day or afternoon of free time, or if the cost would cut into affording digital cable, big vacations, or other toys.

In other words, sometimes we act like we got unionized.  We band together and demand better working hours, more benefits, and if we don't get what we want, we will strike!

You can't serve God while trying to preserve earthly benefits.  The benefit, the reward, is to come.  In fact, Jesus made it clear that those seeking rewards now do so at the expense of rewards to come.  That sounds like too high a price for me.

And Yet... I find myself wanting to unionize sometimes.  I see what serving costs me while I watch others refuse to bear much cost.  Sometimes you end up bearing a greater cost, in time, in effort, because fellow workers are busy protecting their personal benefits.  That is when it is hard.  That is when satan starts whispering in your ear that you need to take care of yourself too and pull back from sacrifice.

Oh Lord, may I not listen to that.  May I serve with joy, not with obligation.  May I give freely and fully, not reluctantly and grudgingly.