Devotional Thought of the Day
³  For we remember before our God and Father how you put your faith into practice, how your love made you work so hard, and how your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ is firm. 1 Thessalonians 1:3 (TEV)

⁹  The servant does not deserve thanks for obeying orders, does he? ¹⁰  It is the same with you; when you have done all you have been told to do, say, ‘We are ordinary servants; we have only done our duty.’ ” Luke 17:9-10 (TEV)

12 We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you to share in his Kingdom and glory.(1 Th 2:12 NLT)

92         Every Christian has the duty to bring peace and joy to his own surroundings on earth. This cheerful crusade of manliness will move even shrivelled or rotten hearts, and raise them to God.  (1)

“Do your job”  – Bill Belichick

This week a couple of Patriots players commented that their coach rarely compliments people, and that when he does, it really really means something to them.  It’s not just someone trying to be nice, or trying to motivate them, the praise is sincere and they are worthy of it.  They might not even think what they did was that noteworthy, but Coach noticed it.  Often it is just that they obeyed his instructions to “Do your job.”

Some people make a big deal of living a life in tune with Jesus, reflecting his love  Some will argue that such is a mandate, that we aren’t saved unless we reach that level of perfection.  Others will point out that it is wrong to tie works to salvation, works to being required to have faith.  They are so afraid that people would think they saved themselves that to teach anything as what we should do puts them into a frenzied panic.

Yet we don’t see that in the writings of St. Paul to the churches, especially this church in Thessalonika. We see a prayer that encourages and applauds living life in harmony with Jesus.  We see Paul plead with people freed from the Old Covenant Law to live a life in a manner consistent with what God created and recreated them to be. It is the understanding St. Josemaria had when he talked of our joy and peace transforming even the most shrivelled of hearts.

It is simply what we do.  It is a response to God asking us to “do our job.”

Do what you are created to do.  It’s not miraculous, though it requires a supernatural dependence on the mercy of God.  It is not special, it is just ordinary.  It is serving, ministering to the needs of those God puts in our path.  And the more time we spend with Jesus, the more it becomes, unnoticed.  It is just our life, and we encounter it with the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life!  

This is the life described in Romans 12, and 1 Corinthians 12-14.  A life lived, affected deeply, far more than just consciously by God’s work in our baptism, and in those times where we commune with Jesus’ Body and Blood.   When we are in awe of His love and His presence, when the Spirit has us focusing on Him, there is a mystical transformation that occurs, as God conforms us into His image.

And so we pray, and plead with you, do your job, confident that God will work in you, even as He planned.

So go, “do your job!”

(1)   Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 599-601). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.