Don't Lose What you Started
Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in
the middle of a desert. Congress said someone may steal from
it at night, so they created a night watchman position
(GS-04) and hired a person for the job.
Then Congress said, "How can the watchman do his job without
instruction?" So they created a planning position and hired
two people: one person to write the instructions (GS-12) and
another person to do time studies (GS-11).
Then Congress said, "How will we know the night watchman is
doing the tasks correctly?" So they created a Quality
Control position and hired two people, one (GS-09) to do the
studies and another (GS-11) to write the reports.
Then Congress said, "How are these people going to get
paid?" So they created the following positions -- a time
keeper (GS-09) and a payroll officer (GS-11) -- and hired
two more people.
Then Congress said, "Who will be responsible for all of
these people?" So they created an administrative position
and hired three people: an Admin. Officer (GM-13), an
Assistant Admin. Officer (GS-13) and a Legal Secretary
(GS-08).
Then Congress said, "We have had this command in operation
for one year and we are $18,000 over budget so we must cut
back our cost." So they laid off the night watchman.
We scoff at politicians for doing such things, but perhaps
we would do well to take a look at ourselves to see if we
are guilty of doing the same thing spiritually.
At the very core of our Christianity is our relationship
with God. We want to improve that relationship, and so we
look around for things that will help. We attend
lectureships and workshops and retreats. We get excited
about bringing in the latest "expert" on some aspect of
Christianity. We listen to tapes and we read books. And if
we're not careful, our Christianity can become focused on
all those things and, ironically, the one thing which may
get neglected in the process is our relationship with God.
Those things are not necessarily bad. In fact, they can
serve a wonderful purpose. But we need to be careful not to
forget why we start doing all those things in the first
place.
"I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing
greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I
have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may
gain Christ and be found in him." (Philippians 3:8-9a, NIV)
May your desire to know Christ and be found in him be found
at the center of all that you do.
Alan Smith alan.smith@whcoc.com
www.TFTD-online.com