Be Strong and Do the Work!

The Pastor’s Page
What I love about the Olympics is that it is evidence that if we do the work, excellence will follow.
In the Bible, God tells his prophets to “be strong and do the work.” David told that to Solomon, his son, whom God wanted to build the Temple. David had wanted to do it, but God said he could not because he had been a warrior and had shed blood.
The task, then, fell on Solomon. David knew that in order to do anything worth anything that it takes work, and faith, and perseverance, washed frequently with tears of frustration and sometimes pain. “Doing the work” is not an easy thing.
David knew it, and knew he had to prepare his son, as best he could, for the journey ahead. He charged his son, publicly, to be careful to follow God’s commands so that he, Solomon, could possess the land and pass it on as an inheritance. He told his son to acknowledge God and “serve God with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind…for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. Consider now,” David continues, “for the Lord has chosen you to build a temple as a sanctuary. Be strong …and do the work.
David repeated his advice to his son at the end of that same chapter in 2 Chronicles 18. As if tasting the difficulty of the task ahead, he said again, “Be strong and courageous and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged for the Lord God, my God, is with you.”
When I see Olympic athletes, I absolutely know the work, the time, the pain, the disappointments, and the small glimpses of success they have seen as they have “done the work.” Ironically, it takes a lot of work to see what looks like easy success. Their feats only look easy because they have done the work.
In a week, we will be commissioning all of the new officers of the church, and my word to do is to “be strong and do the work.” Enroll in your Bible study, but do more. Do the work. Study the Word. Pray about it, so that you can be convicted by it. Be strong and do the work … whether you have 3 people or 30 people in your monthly meetings … which you must, by the way, have. You are building a room in the sanctuary of God’s temple, which is this world, generally, and our community, specifically. Be strong and do the work, when you are most discouraged, most disappointed, when you are in emotional and or spiritual pain. Be strong and do the work when people notice what you do and when people ignore what you do or try to sabotage what you do.
Be sure that building anything, be it athletic prowess, music excellence, even a strong family, is not an easy thing. It takes daily work, to strengthen what you have already done and to build upon what you have done. Once any of us give up, look back, or throw our hands up, we throw excellence to the wind. As long as we have breath in our bodies, it is paramount that we remember that we are to “be strong and do the work.”
Think about what you are signing on to do as you watch the Olympics, or any sports event. Think about it when you watch Beyonce or Mary J Blige. What you see did not come easily. It took work, and faith and patience and love …and a determination that the end product WILL be excellence.
In so doing, excellence, or creating excellence becomes a habit, a way of life. We run a marathon for God. We, then, must practice and, no matter what, promise God that we will “be strong and do the work.”
Have a good week.

Pastor Smith