“Be All You Can Be” July 9, 2023
- Army recruiting slogan
Our Father in Heaven,
When I was in seminary, our ethics class took tours of various places of work. At the steel plant, I asked a question of the foreman: “If you were to go to church, what would you like to hear a sermon about?”
His immediate answer was, “Quality.”
That was his daily life – striving to roll out products that met a certain standard of quality. I imagine that workers were strictly supervised with quality in mind, and that quality was a hot topic at management meetings.
But how many sermons have we heard on this topic? Ordinarily, preachers speak about Jesus and His work and sacrifice for us, about our salvation, and about God’s love for us, etc. (And sometimes a preacher will dare to add something about sin!) All good stuff; we need to hear sermons about Jesus – He is the bread and wine of life, after all.
But what about the rigors of our daily life? Consider this quote, which I found in a novel, Witch Wood, by John Buchan, p. 68.
If a man is so ill a smith that he cannot shoe my horse, I will be none the better because he is a good Christian. If a land be ill governed, the disaster will not be the less great because the governors are men of God….Honest intention will not cure faulty practice, and the fool is the fool, whether he be unbeliever or professor.
We are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves – how about loving our work, about caring enough about our work to try to achieve perfection?
I have heard that medieval craftsmen who carved woodwork in cathedrals often etched figures where no one would look; for example, under a pew. This must have been done with loving care. Do we have loving care for our jobs? For baking a beautiful and tasty cake? For finishing a report? For re-roofing a house? (I know a builder who constantly tells his workmen that the construction must be perfect; he shudders when anyone says, “That’s good enough.”)
Where in the Bible do You, Father, talk about quality? Possibly the parable of the talents in Mt 25:14-28. Here, the Master entrusted various amounts of money with three workers while He took a trip away. The worker with the most money doubled what the Master had left with him. The worker with the least money was afraid of the Master and buried his allotment, which of course produced no growth. The Master, upon returning, gave the fearful worker’s money to the one who had been the good investor. Surely here, Father, you meant to tell us to “Be all we can be.”
Perhaps also is “quality” important in the building of Solomon’s temple:
Now send me a skilled man to work in gold, silver, brass and iron, and in purple, crimson and violet fabrics, and who knows how to make engravings, to work with the skilled men whom I have in Judah and Jerusalem….”(2 Chron 2:7, emphases mine)
Only the best for Your temple! Perhaps we should treat all our tasks as if we truly are Your workers in Your temple. After all, don’t we want our work to please You and glorify You? Don’t we want it to be the best quality?
And of course we must not forget the book of Proverbs:
Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise, which having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest. (Prov 6:6-8)
An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels, the heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life. She looks for wool and flax and works with her hands in delight. (Prov 31:10-13)
And the chapter goes on at length to list all the evidences of her industry.
A final thought: You are the true Master Craftsman who made all things good. And, we might add, of the finest quality! Should we not follow in Your footsteps?
Let us be all we can be!