Sunday Night Faith
I’ve had a few days off, and I’m grateful for them. But the prospect of work tomorrow weighs heavily. Why can’t I just be grateful? Hold on, I am, in fact, grateful for God’s provision.
I love the people I work with, and I believe in the mission. I hate the urgency, the anxiety about getting things done, the superficiality of the work: writing lines of code to produce an outcome interpreted by computers. But I’m good at it. How can I make sense of this as a Christian?
I return to this theme again and again. Why does work feel so hard, and why do I dread it? Is it a lack of faith? Am I not using the gifts God gave me correctly? But quietly, imperceptibly, I feel myself drawn back to the truth. “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, NIV)
I long for a trouble-free world and assume I’m a bad Christian, or a weak person, if I cannot stand up under the heavy load of daily life. But nothing could be further from the truth. I am guaranteed suffering, we all are, but with us in the suffering, we have a Savior. He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. He has suffered on our behalf so we can carry Him with us in ours.
In the now, we have longings for something better. But the longings are sweet, because they point to the guarantee of a not-yet beyond our wildest imaginings. In this hope, I will open my computer, read and write messages, attend meetings, and fix bugs. I can celebrate the fleeting moments of joy as they arrive, knowing that I have only begun to scratch the surface of the meaningful eternal life that awaits me.
