My Job Description! - What Is Yours?

The church where my wife and I are members is taking steps to create a new staff position. The person who will fill that position is already on staff but this will change his direction of ministry. While we know who is going to be in the new position, the first step of official church procedure involves the approval of a job description. The Personnel Committee has worked on the job description for some time and presented it to the church this past weekend. We gladly approved it and look forward to the next step which is the vote to approve the person who has been chosen for this position.

I have been retired for twelve years from full-time employment. Every place that I worked and ministered in always provided me a job description. The piece of paper helped me stay focused on what my primary responsibilities were. Sometimes the job description was adjusted as circumstances changed the focus of those responsibilities. The same was true for every person that I recommended for employment. They all received a job description.

So has retirement removed me from job descriptions? Not exactly! While no one is giving me a paycheck, there are some responsibilities that are outlined in the Bible that focus my life on responsibilities of greater importance whether employed or not. While I could make a lengthy list, let me comment on three major ones and then list without comment several others.

First, and this must be first because Jesus said it was the greatest commandment.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart

and all your soul and with all your mind." Matthew 22:37

This really is the starting place for understanding what our lives should focus upon. God is our creator, He is our redeemer, and He is the sustainer of all of life. We can love God because He first loved us and demonstrated that love to us through the gift of Jesus.

Second, and this is also what Jesus said after He answered about the greatest commandment.

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22:39

Jesus expanded the definition of neighbor as He lived His earthly ministry caring for those whom we might often skip over or neglect. At one point He expanded our love for neighbor to include loving our enemies. This is the hard part of this life job description and cannot be achieved apart from first loving God with all of our being.

Third, after God created Adam, He saw that man needed a mate so He created Eve and by so doing created marriage. The Bible clarified for us how we are to hold to this marriage relationship.

"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and

gave himself up for her . . . " Ephesians 5:25

I know that the scripture also tells wives to submit to their husbands and that has become a point of disagreement in a modern age. However, my observation is that when husbands love their wives as Christ loved the church, the disagreement often disappears. My wife and I have now been married 57 years and are halfway along on number 58. Children are a byproduct of marriage and also fit into this life job description Parents are given the task of bringing up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). When that takes place, it is easy to see that passed on through grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Loving God, loving people, and loving family provide a person with an amazing life. There are countless other things that grow out of these three. Here are but a few:

• Pray without ceasing

• Forgive one another

• Bear one another's burdens

• Don't grow weary in doing good

• Be kind to one another

• Teach what Jesus has taught us

• 
  

Did you notice that there are no references to where the ones above are found in the Bible? That gives you the opportunity to seek and find them - another part of the job description!

Whether you are young or retired like me, God always has guidelines and commandments for us to obey and follow. Yes, it is like a job description. My prayer this week is that each of us will find the benefit in life that comes from knowing, following, and loving the Lord God. May we all live, serve, and minister well.