[467 words]
Michael was a sculptor. At age 33, he was just starting to make his mark in the art world, working on a piece for the biggest art patron in the world. So when that patron asked him to switch projects from the one he had his heart set on and paint a fresco instead, he balked. He wasn’t a painter; he had never done a fresco in his life. There were suspicions that his rivals had cooked up the job because they knew Michael wouldn’t want to do it, and his refusal might end his relationship with the wealthy patron.
Then there was the job itself. It was going to be grueling work that would take years to complete. It would make him miserable and cost him physically. The art itself wouldn’t be the easy to see either since it wasn’t to be painted on the wall but rather on the ceiling. A job he didn’t want, doing something he was prepared for, in miserable conditions for something no one would be able to see.
Sound like a job you sluff off right?
But not for Michael. Rather than do less he did more, much more and the work speaks for itself. They are now considered masterpieces. Friends asked Michael why he put so much effort into a work that no one would see he simply replied “God will see.”
His friends were wrong however. Each year 5 million neck-craning tourists visit the Sistine Chapel to catch a glimpse of the works the sculptor turned painter Michelangelo.
“Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free” (Ephesians 6:5-8).
I sure every one of us has had that no fun, no reward, no praise, no account, no end in sight jobs before. There are a lot of those jobs in the world. There are a lot of those jobs in the church. So, how do we do them? If no one is watching why break you back?
Because God is watching! He sees what we do and will reward us for it. We not here to please men ourselves included, we are here to please God. Whatever task he find to do we need to do it with all our might.
Situations don’t make masterpieces, people with the right mindset do. Whatever task you find yourself in, make it a masterpiece for the Lord!
Barry Haynes
Hope church of Christ
Hope, AR