Posted by
Steve Brown on Thursday, December 07, 2006 3:31:08 PM
If you've ever hired someone to work on your car, paint a room (or a whole house), do yard work, - any number of jobs- you have probably worried at least a little if the work would be done well and on time. Likewise, if you’re self-employed and you’ve been hired to do such work, you have probably worried at least a little if you would get paid the amount agreed to, or if there would be a lot of quibbling, or even acrimony about whether your work met the customer’s standards. In the “real world” people do shoddy work sometimes, just like some people write bad checks, promise to pay “later”, or suddenly discover their checkbook is smaller than their eyes when the work is complete.
That’s life in the big city. What’s sad is that sometimes it’s life in the church as well. I know Christians who do good work and make those that hire them (Christian or not) glad they did. Unfortunately, most if not all of them have, at least once, finished a job only to be told that money’s tight so they need to wait for payment or maybe settle for less than their customer said they would pay for the work. Lots of these customers simply never call back so the guy (or gal) who held up their side of the deal has to either 1) act like a collection agency and harass their brother or sister; or 2) write it off and hope the work they got paid for will cover their bills.
On the other hand, lots of Christians I know are very leery of hiring other Christians after getting poor quality work done and being told “hey, it’s my ministry” when they tell the person they hired that frankly, they expected more for their money. When the recently blind man saw men moving about like trees, Jesus didn't say “It’s not like I’m getting paid for this”.
In my opinion, no one who does secular work for money should call that their ministry. If they give up a Saturday to help someone in need by doing the same work for free, that’s ministry. Your conduct on your secular job can and should be a ministry. The title “ministry” however, is not a coat of paint you can slop onto anything you do for a living.
I wish I had the impression that most self-employed Christians are better than average in their chosen field. Many though give me the impression of being unable to hold down a regular job. By the same token, since none of us would have the nerve to tell the bank they’ll receive a heavenly reward instead of the mortgage this month, we shouldn't’t even consider treating each other that way.
Let our yes be yes, our no be no. let’s do our work as unto the LORD (where have I heard that before?). As for myself, I’m certain that if I were self-employed I would starve; I’m far too disorganized to succeed at that, but I’m very happy that I know it and accept that limitation.