A few weeks ago in a sermon I heard the preacher compare/contrast an employment commitment and the analogous aspects of a dedication of faith to our Lord God, once we become Christian. As is known to all, a responsibility in employment with a company/corporation is a two way street. For an employee it requires knowledge and application of talents thereof to the actual mission and what is their part to the eventual success of the final product or service. It takes a dedication of loyalty to the employer. In return the employer has certain responsibilities to provide: a satisfactory and safe working environment; a paycheck on an agreed upon schedule according to employment contract; and support for the employee with certain benefits.
I am not sure I have ever included any humor in my years of writing this blog, but one occurred to me for this subject. Here goes. A man was applying for a job and asked the personnel manager, "Does your company pay for health insurance?" "No," the personnel manager said, "You pay for it. It is deducted from your salary each month." The applicant said, "Well, the last place I worked, they paid for it." The manager said, "Did they provide you with a life insurance policy?" "Yes." "And profit-sharing?" "Yes." "And paid vacations?" "Yes." The applicant continued enumerating all the benefits he had previously enjoyed such as bonuses and gifts, etc. etc. The personnel manager then asked the applicant, 'Well, why did you leave the company?" The applicant, haltingly replied, "They folded." Case closed!
The preacher elaborated in his sermon on his main idea. It was, that, accepting Jesus as one's personal Savior, derives a significant gift of unlimited benefits by our Lord in return that far transcends anything we give to God. What must we give? We must believe in loyal and undiminished faith that Jesus is Who He claimed He was two millennia ago, when He was birthed in Bethlehem in human form. We must believe He was not of this earthly world. We must believe what the New Testament declared He was and what He taught humanity. Once in faith we believe He died on that Calvary cross and shed his blood for us for His forgiveness of all our sins, past, present and future, we derive the ultimate gift of Eternal Life.
First and foremost I have believed and have faith that my benefits received are derived from an underlying understanding that God is in charge, completely and eternally in every aspect of my life and my world. He answers prayers. He heals us body, soul and spirit. What is our responsibility for this contract? It sounds simple, but it is not? We must be sinless (which we cannot be due to original sin for mankind), but we know we can be restored and cleansed by coming back to Him and confessing those sins in the Name of Jesus. We also know we must forgive all others that have hurt/slighted/wounded us in our lives or we will not be forgiven. God's benefits never change. We fail in our part of the contract. We are human, but, in our underlying belief, we serve a God, that is always there for us, even when we lose faith and lose our way. The key is to stay in the fights and battles of life (personally in military terms, tactically and in overall individual life's fights and battles) and (again in military terms the strategic battles) always in our lives of the effects of the great eternal struggle of all mankind, that of God versus Satan, who controls our earthly word.
Final admonition: Follow up and fulfill your side of the agreement and your life will be better!
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