Do YOUR job!
It’s pretty simple really!
Ayoung man I know has been in the Australian Armed Forces for the past couple of years and just returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. As he prepares for his next step (quite possibly the SAS) I asked what was the most important lesson he’d learned so far. “That’s simple!” he said, “do YOUR job”.
What a simple yet profound statement of warfare and something that I think we could learn from in the Salvation Army. Just imagine how much more effective we could be if we just got on with what we were meant to do or were assigned to do! Far too many of us are worried about the job the officer or officer’s wife or the youth worker or the DC isn’t doing or the bandmaster or quartermaster or women’s ministry co-ordinator isn’t doing, rather than showing by example how effectively things can work when we just “get on with it”!
The intrinsic thought in “do YOUR job” is that if indeed everyone concerned subscribed to that same simple philosophy, then mountains could be moved, people saved, families enriched and supported, churches and corps built and the army move forward (’Quick march’) as an efficient, relevant, united force.
Bruce Springsteen has a new single called “Do your job” about his perception of the complacency and laziness of his fellow Americans:
They don’t wanna do their job,
They just want their checks.
They wanna show up,
Stand around and collect.
Well baby it just don’t work that way!
You gotta do your job to earn your pay.
“The Boss” gets it!
But, I hear you say, “I’ve been put in the wrong job! They don’t recognize my talent set or appreciate my unique gifting”. Well to that I say just like the old song “If you can’t be with the one you love, then love the one you’re with” , i.e. just get on with whatever it is that is at hand at this point in time and see what develops. You might just be on a learning curve that seems irrelevant to you right at the moment, but maybe you are being prepared for something greater.
Am I suggesting that one should never question authority but sit back and passively take everything that is dished up to us in ministry? Absolutely lot, but if we are given a job to do then let’s get on with it.
Do YOUR job!
2 Comments to Do YOUR job!
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Yes you are right Bruce - it could be as simple as that. One of the biggest challenges we face these days is a growing sense of entitlement. I see this especially in the workplace where Juniors turn up and expect to be CEO within 3 months without putting in the hard yards.
There is no use sitting around and whining that our church isn’t growing if we don’t do the groundwork.
The work we do as Christians comes at a cost and is generally hard work, especially when we have to do it alone or with only the very few willing ones.
Bruce:
Good point. I frequently need to be reminded to face forward. Thing is, what if it’s one’s job to point things out?
Andrea