Dear Friends,
Unlike in the last blog where we have good and bad examples of workers illustrated by siblings – https://fmministry.co.uk/how-can-i-be-a-true-follower-of-jesus-christ-at-work-example-cain-and-abel, this time, we will draw out the good and the bad from one person – Noah.
The Name Noah will probably evoke the image of an ‘Ark’ in your mind as that is how he is mostly remembered. This biblical character is made even more popular by ‘Noah’ a 2014 American epic drama directed by Darren Aronofsky; and stars Russell Crowe as Noah, along with other well-known actors. I saw the movie when it came out, and although an interesting watch, it contains a lot of made-up stories that are not in the Bible. You can watch the movie trailer at http://bit.ly/Noahtrailer and the full movie on Amazon Prime or other rental services.
A depiction of Noah’s Ark
This blog will stick with the biblical description which can be read from Genesis Chapter 6 to 9. I would, as usual, encourage all of us to read the 4 chapters in Genesis for ourselves but below are key points I believe relevant to our discussion:
- Because of the wickedness of the human race, the Lord said He will wipe out both humans and all animals from the face of the earth (Genesis 6:7-8).
- Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time and he walked faithfully with God. So he found favour in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8-9).
- God told Noah what He was going to do; and He told Noah what he must do to save himself, his family, and all living creatures (Genesis 6:13-22).
- Noah did everything just as God commanded (Genesis 6:22).
- Genesis Chapters 7, 8, and most of 9 described what happened during the flood. Essentially, a story of Noah’s obedience and God’s faithfulness regarding His promise to preserve the human race and the earth through him.
- The end of Chapter 9, specifically verses 20-29, shows the bad side of Noah which will be used as the ‘bad example’ for this blog. These last few verses show how Noah, who was initially introduced as a righteous and blameless man became a drunk, indecent man who ended up cursing his son.
The question for us is how did this happen and what are the lessons for us?
I must say the Bible portion cited above did not explicitly tell us how Noah’s transition from good to bad happened so I am only sharing from my understanding of reading ‘between the lines’.
Every person has the capacity to be good and to be bad
The first thing I noted is that Noah’s focus has shifted from listening to God and obeying His every instructions, to doing what pleased his human inclination. His new description as a ‘man of the soil’ (Genesis 9:20) is a good indication of where his passion now lays.
Based on the above, I reckon the lesson for all of us is to remind ourselves to always put our relationship with God and our obedience to Him as our number one priority. It is, of course, good for us to have a career and put in our best to excel for the glory of God but we have to be mindful that our job does not become our god.
There are ways that we can check ourselves from time to time to see whether we have created a new god for ourselves in work. For example:
Jesus Christ gave a perfect example of how not to focus on our secular job. He was a Carpenter from childhood to age 30 but the Bible did not describe Him as a Carpenter. Jesus came and set his face like a flint towards the Cross as that was His main mission on the earth. He did not allow anything to distract Him from what His father sent Him to do. We must do likewise.
The second thing I pick out is that Noah’s success in his job as a farmer has ‘gone to his head’ so to speak. Yes, he had abundant yield from his vineyard which he should be thankful, but he then got carried away in enjoying the produce. The same Noah who built an altar and sacrificed very rare animals to God after coming out of the Ark (Genesis 8:20) became the person getting drunk on the produce of his vineyard.
The lesson for us is to always remind ourselves that everything we get from our secular or spiritual work belongs to God, we are only put in the position of stewarding on His behalf. We must therefore ensure that we use whatever we get to bless God and bless others rather than consuming more than we need.
Again, Jesus gave the perfect example of not taking any glory for Himself, neither for His Carpentry or His Ministry work. He came to proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom of God and to offer salvation to all mankind and then to return to the Father for His reward. We must do likewise.
Find your purpose and follow
Dear Friends, have you discovered your God-given purpose on this planet? If you have, please go ahead and do it, and don’t let anything or anyone stop you. If you are still not sure, please keep listening to God and keep following His every instruction until you get to that place when you are sure. Then continue to keep your eyes on Jesus as He leads you from day to day until your assignment is finished on the earth or He returns to find you faithful to His calling.
I can tell you that just like Noah, God wants to use each of us to preserve others for the eternal kingdom of God. To do that, we must proclaim the Gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ in the diverse ways that God has equipped us. For those of us still in the workplace, the main way we do this is by serving God with our work and by serving others as the hands, feet, and hearts of Jesus in the workplace. That should be our focus for as long as we live.
May all of us never lose focus on our main purpose in the workplace and may we continue to be fruitful and give God all the glory.
Please continue to send your feedback and comments to hello@fmministry.co.uk or use the comment box below.
God bless you and let’s keep growing in the image of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Adesina