Off to work
Each task your wisdom has assigned
Still let me cheerfully fulfil. Charles Wesley
Read Matthew 21:28—32
There is a work of the Father for me to participate in. It is deeper than observing my religion. An honest reflection will probably tell me if today I have willingly participated with my Father or merely observed my religious practice. Jesus was addressing the hardened religious in this parable. He accused them of a glib answer. Their ‘Yes’ meant nothing, no willing engagement with the Father. It covered up an actual ‘No.’ Tax collectors and prostitutes shamed them when they converted. Their ‘No’ to God had been equally glib. But they saw where it led, and recoiled from that. They turned back. They repented. They gladly participated with the Father. In fact, converts, fresh in their faith, when I come across them, do the same thing. Aren’t they sent to inspire me?
Father, you are always at work. You never cease being Father, and Lord of all creation. It is only because of spiritual blindness that I cannot see you at work, only because of spiritual apathy that I would not join in. I thank you for those I know who are fresh in the faith, for those with a passion to find a work of God and take part in it. I rejoice before you for those who have long-term been renewed in the Spirit, who walk daily with you, who find that the work of God is their work too. For those who have been at it most of their lives, yet still seem as keen to please you as the first day novice. For those who count it a daily and a regular privilege. It is the privilege of faithfulness in daily life that I seek. It refreshes my day when each thing I do is a ‘Yes’ to you.