April 7th – Stranger in the Hall

Taking It to Work:

I remember one time when I was in high school, when my grandfather had to come to the school to see me for some reason. I remember the picture in my mind of seeing him from afar, a silhouette from the bright light coming through the door behind him. It was so strange. It was like two worlds colliding. My high school world filled with all the crazy of a teen’s life, and now the strange sight of my gentle, quiet grandfather, seemingly totally misplaced walking past the classrooms of B-wing. Until that day, my world at school and the world with my grandfather, were light years apart, and there was a surprising mental awkwardness seeing them come together. It wasn’t that I tried to keep them separate, it was just until that day, they never had to be together.

For us in the workplace, it can be very much the same. Our work-life and our faith-life, because they don’t have to be together, at least in the culture’s eyes, we unintentionally keep them separate, and there can be a great awkwardness when those two worlds touch.

Like today, when TGIF meets GF (Good Friday), when our noon lunch break coincides with the thought of a midday darkness that came across the land as Jesus was laid out on a cross. For me, it’s the memory of going to my grandmother’s sewing factory, where 1000 chattering sewing machines went quiet for three hours; no one even talked from noon till 3pm in honor of the Lord’s sacrifice.

Today it is not like that. The world of our workplace seems so far from the Roman world of whips and crosses that mark the history and holiness of this day. It was on this day that we, the forgiven, should have incurred a great debt for what was done for us, but instead, in the same sacrifice, we were relieved of it.

And with that, we are called to invite Him into the halls of our crazy workplace, even if He seems strange there at first. To really live out our faith, we are to breakdown the separation of any part of our life from His overarching presence. That is why we do these devotions every workday, that we would remember He is there, and our work-life and faith-life are to be one-life, as His Word works in you, today.

John 15:13 (ESV) – Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 

1 Peter 4:19 (ESV) – Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

Matt 27:45 (NIV) – From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land.

Rev 3:20 (ESV) – Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Listening to the Holy Spirit (Rhema):

Long before man, I Am. With infinite love I created, that man would know love. Imperfect creation created in perfect love, lifted to freedom by that same love. I lay down so that those who respond to love might rise in it. Those who reject the call, do not know love, only of service to self, unwilling to accept for fear of loss. My suffering for those suffering, that life eternal might be had by those dying, but created to live. I Am the Alpha and the Omega. All begins at My hand, and all ends in My care and presence. Even the suffering of the righteous, even to death, is a beginning far greater than its appearance. The crucifixion weighs heavy, but as I was lifted, so many come to the Father. What are you suffering today? It can be made for good if given to Me – not impossible, but promised for those who love Me, called to My purposes. You are of them if you abide in Me. My love transcends suffering, and death has no sting, for in My time and Name, the blackest Friday gives rise to a far greater day. Eyes forward; wipe away the tear. The stone shall be rolled away, and greater life beyond the imaginings of man shall rise.