He was a hard working young man, just starting his career. It was a low
end job, but he was working and just barely making it. With all the talk of the
minimum wage increasing, he went to his boss, after being chided by his friends,
and told him he needed to make minimum wage. When asked why, he said he
couldn’t make it on anything less, and demanded he be paid the minimum wage by
law. His boss reluctantly agreed, and he bragged to his friends on his
negotiation skills. But when his next paycheck came, it was almost $100 less
than normal for the two weeks. Upset and angry, he approached his boss, “I
thought I was making more, you were going to pay me minimum wage.” And his boss
told him, “I paid you want you demanded, to be paid the minimum. I had been
paying you more because you are a good worker, and I wanted to keep you. You
thought minimum wage meant that was what I had to pay you, but I look at it as
that is all I have to pay you, and wanted to pay you more.” The employee
looking sheepish, asked for his old wage back, and was told, “you never stopped
working for it,” and handed him a second check, for what he was making before,
and still was. Giving a new definition to the phrase minimum wage.
Some owners look at it as “that’s all I have to pay,” how many of us look
at our jobs as only a source of income? Having lost more than one job, some
that paid great, I would ask others out of work,
“what do you miss more, the job or the paycheck?” Almost everyone answered the paycheck. And of course, we were never paid enough. Yet how many minimum wage Christians do we have out there? Those that only live a minimum life in Christ? They grouse about attending church twice a year, about having to pay a tithe to the offering, and are insulted when asked to serve within the church. “I show up on Sundays, sometimes, I give when I can, and my wife has worked in the nursery before.” But they are missing it, for it isn’t about the church, but Jesus. And our relationship to him and with him. A man once bragged to me about how he read his Bible for 20 minutes each morning, but that was all his contact with God for the day. He was following a booklet of reading through the Bible in a year, and even though sometimes he wanted to read more, he stayed on schedule, not wanting to get ahead. It was a lesson plan, not a spiritual plan, and if he strayed from it, felt guilty. He wasn’t keeping up with the others....while another man took the same course, and after missing a few days after being on vacation, quit reading altogether, it was only an exercise, and he would start again next year. Like many of his friends. Never once did any of them consider just reading the Bible, it was always to just study. And like any course we take, we study to pass the test, then forget and go onto the next lesson. Not a life in Christ I choose to live.
“what do you miss more, the job or the paycheck?” Almost everyone answered the paycheck. And of course, we were never paid enough. Yet how many minimum wage Christians do we have out there? Those that only live a minimum life in Christ? They grouse about attending church twice a year, about having to pay a tithe to the offering, and are insulted when asked to serve within the church. “I show up on Sundays, sometimes, I give when I can, and my wife has worked in the nursery before.” But they are missing it, for it isn’t about the church, but Jesus. And our relationship to him and with him. A man once bragged to me about how he read his Bible for 20 minutes each morning, but that was all his contact with God for the day. He was following a booklet of reading through the Bible in a year, and even though sometimes he wanted to read more, he stayed on schedule, not wanting to get ahead. It was a lesson plan, not a spiritual plan, and if he strayed from it, felt guilty. He wasn’t keeping up with the others....while another man took the same course, and after missing a few days after being on vacation, quit reading altogether, it was only an exercise, and he would start again next year. Like many of his friends. Never once did any of them consider just reading the Bible, it was always to just study. And like any course we take, we study to pass the test, then forget and go onto the next lesson. Not a life in Christ I choose to live.
In these examples, the men had chosen to trip over man made doctrine,
church advised rhetoric. And we have all been there. But when the spirit
guides, we no longer trip over words or phrases, and can be guided and blessed.
Like the minimum wage earner, we want more, but don’t think we are getting
enough. But when we trust the spirit, we find he is giving us more than we are
worth, more than just a minimum relationship. In the spirit we get all the
benefits, for life and after. Yet some work for a paycheck form religion, and
miss out on the job in life God has for them. Why just read what the lesson
says for today, what if I want more? Why should I just pray before I leave the
house, or before I lay me down to sleep? Why can’t I have Jesus with me all
day, like Psalm 1 says, and be blessed by meditating on him? We can when we
break out of the mold of religion, and not being a minimum wage Christian. It
is like those who go out witnessing, how can you turn off Jesus, and then turn
him back on based on the audience? His spirit is with you always, unto the end,
what kind of witness are you? When you study to be approved, who are you
seeking approval from?
Another man confronted me one day, bragging on how he has read the entire
Bible three times in the past three years. Studied John for the fifth time, but
was burdened. He was overwhelmed with keeping on schedule, and was missing the
joy of the Lord. He had confused the word of God for his spirit, forgetting it
is the spirit that opens our hearts and minds to the word, and gives us life.
His trinity was Father, Son and the word, supplanting the spirit. And when
explained who the spirit was, exclaimed, “Now I get it! The spirit. How could I
have been so blind?” He was working hard, but only getting a minimum wage in
return. Until he let the spirit guide him, and suddenly it wasn’t about the
wage, or the reward, it was all abut Jesus. And walking in his spirit.
Just like our paychecks, we can come up short in Jesus if it is all about
the paycheck. Consider who Jesus is and what he has done. The fact he is God
alone should be enough to be worshipped, yet we tie a price tag, a paycheck to
him. Jesus paid the price for sin, death, and we get to collect the wages of
grace instead. God calls them fruit, love, and joy, and peace, and patience.
If the Bible has become only a text book, only a guide, stop and ask God to give
you his spirit. And he will because he has. And in it you will find the spirit
giving you the understanding you cannot find anywhere else, no matter how much
you cram. It isn’t about what we do, it is about what Jesus did. Find freedom
in him today, to read all you want, not just to study. Life is more than an
open book test to see what we know, it is knowing Jesus and opening our hearts
to him. And via his spirit, we will find the joy found in the word, and not
trip over the words. So next time some Bible student tries to brag on being in
the word, ask him if the word is in him? Just might make a difference in how
you see Jesus. And find how he has written his word on our hearts, and is with
us always. No minimums, and the overflowing is about to begin. Minimum wage
Christians get just what they want, what they think Jesus is worth. He offers
so much more.
A final thought about the innkeeper in the story of the good Samaritan.
Two pieces of silver was great, he could have neglected the wounded man and
remodeled the inn. Or put him out and kept the money himself. He didn’t know
if or when the Samaritan would return. Jesus will return for us, how will you
have spent the blessings he gave you? How you live your life in Christ will
tell others about the love of Jesus. Not of our own works. In the spirit,
you will find him worth so much more....you may be in the word, I rather have
the word in me. Minimum wage, only Jesus knows you are worth so much more. The
innkeeper was paid more than a minimum by the good Samaritan. Only Jesus
saves....a bargain at any price. For no matter how much you make, the wages of
sin will still be death.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com