Don’t Begrudge The Task God Gives You To Accomplish

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(31) Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  (32) Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.’ (Ephesians 4:31-32)

Having just returned from visiting our family, it is good to be back home!  Of course, our cats were overjoyed in our return home as they were left to ‘guard’ the house.  Our oldest cat is excited to see me and she keeps hopping up on my lap for her ‘Pappy’ time, and to possibly prevent me from leaving her again.  Our younger cat keeps meowing and wants petted and patted on the head, as well.   When the older cat is not on my lap she is either on the bed or she’s on her perch on top of the couch. 

The younger cat usually will be on or around the cat tower in the ‘great room’ (aka the dining room without a dining table in it).  Now whether she is on the tower or not, I put her stuffed ‘sock’ monkey on the top of the tower.  She usually makes it a point to jump up to the top and knock the monkey down, which I assume is to display dominance over her ‘property’.  She doesn’t share space with that monkey, and will ignore it other than to push it off with either a swipe of her paw, a head butt, or a body check.  The monkey gets no respect – I should start calling it ‘Rodney’.

That poor monkey got me thinking about our ‘monkeys’ that we attempt to knock down or off our perches, or ignore as we pay no respect to if they are not in our way.  It could be a person, which would be improper but there could be someone we just don’t want to deal with (a neighbor or co-worker who is belligerent or ‘high-maintenance’), or it could be an unpleasant task or object we don’t want to deal with until we have to, then we deal with it quickly before we return to ignoring it again. 

We all likely have a few of them, like checking the oil in our car or plucking weeds from the yard.  Things that we know we have to deal with, but do so begrudgingly.  I’m certain our youngest cat sees knocking down ‘Rodney the Monkey’ as something she needs to do, although she probably doesn’t like to deal with him.   Sometimes we do the same thing, except it’s not as easy as hitting a stuffed monkey. 

We are familiar with the story of Jonah; Jonah had a big grudge against Nineveh.  Nineveh was part of the Israel’s enemy, the capital city of the Assyrian Empire (now Iraq’s Kurdistan region) – somewhat like we view China or Russia is with the US today.  It is a very hostile area, and I was fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to have visited the Nineveh region (outside of the city of Mosul, at Forward Operating Bases Diamondback and Marez) as a government contractor in 2006.   

Jonah of course hated the idea of witnessing to Nineveh so much he tried to run away from God, who ended up having Jonah return via ‘big fish’ and go to Nineveh.  We know Jonah witnessed to the Ninevites and they turned to God, even though Jonah did not want them to.  Even though he did obey God, he did not do it with the proper frame of mind.

We do the same thing as Jonah did with our ‘monkeys’, we don’t want to deal with that neighbor or co-worker who is crass or insulting, or just rubs us the wrong way.  We don’t want to do the tasks we find unpleasant or taxing (speaking of taxes, who looks forward to filling out that annual 1040 form?).  I’m certain there were people Paul didn’t care for in his travels as they were perhaps not as cultured or had the same level of conviction as he did for Christ. 

Nevertheless, just like we sometimes have to do the things we are not passionate for to complete a task, we also having to deal with those we may not particularly care for.  Paul in Ephesians 4:31-32 gave us a great example in this.  It’s not enough to be like Jonah and begrudgingly do the Lord’s tasks, but we should do the Lord’s tasks with Christ-like compassion and attitude.  If I tithe without compassion, or give to my neighbor(s) time or food without compassion, God may accept the task as completed, but He will not take it as worship, as I did not have the right mindset while doing it. 

God wants us to be like Christ when dealing with our issues, we should look past the mundane tasks we don’t want to do with the blessings that come from the tasks.  Getting your hands dirty in checking the oil gives the blessings of a car that will run without engine failure; rinsing or changing the water filters gives the blessings of clean water and improved water flow. 

Perhaps taking time to talk to that neighbor or co-worker will provide a blessing of them sharing they either know the Lord or crack open their desire to learn more about God.  Be of an open mind and look past your feelings and look to the blessings God wants to provide for you and for others.  Jonah’s life would have been a whole lot easier (and a lot less fishy) if he simply would have looked for the blessings and not his own desires.