Owe nothing but love, whether gravel pit or snake pit!

How do I love “those” guys, you know, the ones I don’t even like?

How do we really do this stuff on the job?

First, I will speak in generalities, believing God and obeying God.

1) Go to the wood pile:  Believe God for what he says.

    We must believe that “owe nothing but love” is as valid and sound as God says it is.  Pray that we will believe God that this is how we are to live our lives.  Pray that we will accept God’s direction whether or not we can see how to implement it or whether or not it makes sense to us at this time.  We cannot look at all the ways in which owing nothing but love will not work in the real world.  Faith is believing first.  Faith means we don’t see the road ahead we just know who is directing us along the way.

    Stop and think.  Am I living more in the real world when I live according to my expectations and perspective or when I follow the clear, defined, simple instruction of God as found in his holy book?  I dealt with this as a pastor with men who had been successful in business.  Don’t fall into this trap of rationalization in which we adjust God’s words to our way of thinking and living.  When we edit God’s words to fit our world, when we bring his thoughts and ways down to our reality, then we are left with below, not above, instruction for life.  We have transformed living truth into religious principles and are left spiritually hungry.

    If you have to see the road ahead before you obey God, then you are not walking by faith.  And that means you are trusting yourself more than you trust him.  I’m not liking that choice.  What do you think?

2) Chop wood:  Obey God and receive the mercy and grace of God.

    You will succeed.  And you will fail, and fail miserably and, believe it or not, this is good.  This divine mix of success and failure is seasoned with God’s mercy and grace.  You learn to be a person of mercy and grace as you stand in need of it in your daily life.  Believe the divine direction, live the truth the best you can, and be ready to receive God’s mercy and grace and love.  Remember the wood chopping example?  The wood chopping is faithfully obeying the owe nothing principle.  As a result you become a person of mercy and grace, thus you become strong in the things of God.  You are strong not because of abstract truth about God, but strong because you are learning that God is very real in life, on the path he has set before you.

Now, let’s look at some specifics.

How about a list here?

1.    Focus on individuals and specific instances of conflict and/or opportunity. 

In other words narrow the group down to individual people.  Does Harry do something intentionally irritating in the hope that you will use up your bad words for the week all in one day?  Does John cuss around you just to make you angry?  Or Bob makes sure he brings up a discussion of church hypocrites in your presence? 

2.    Ask God how you can approach your antagonist in a way that pleases him. 

Your approach needs to be of an individual who is seeking a genuine resolution to a problem which benefits all concerned.  Do everything possible to not come across as self-righteous or condescending.  You are interested in that person also, not just your personal peace on the job.  How can you talk to Harry about his approach to the job that is so irritating to you?  Sometimes we need the humility to seek clarification of a situation.  Maybe Harry does not realize what is happening, or at least didn’t at first, until he saw your negative reaction to what he did.  Possibly we need to apologize to the person for pre-judging a situation and becoming angry and escalating the problem.

3.    Approach the individual as privately as possible. 

Sometimes approaching a group is called for but probably not usually. We must have the courage to confront and trust God for the results.  Possibly John doesn’t realize how much his cussing bothers you, and you have to expose yourself somewhat by acknowledging that, yes, he is getting to you.  I know I have guys tell me that you “never let them know they’re getting to you,” but those people are not the ones who are trusting God to take care of them.  People have that attitude because they believe they have to care for themselves because no on else will.

4.    If a situation gets worse, and you experience even more hostility, let God heal your wounds. 

Do not pay back evil for evil or insult for insult.  A very “other worldly” aspect is added to your life in allowing God to be the one who cares for you, letting God be God, even, and especially, in difficult times.  Think mercy and grace.  You didn’t memorize the principle; you just had it burned into your heart.

5.    If a situation gets better, which is a distinct possibility also, then thank God. 

Be careful to not take credit for what God has done.  Build on this success.  Use it to build your relationship with this person.  Allow God to cause you to take this lesson and store it in your heart.

6.    Apologizing. 

I have had to swallow my pride on several occasions and apologize to a person because the way I reacted when I became angry with them.  Several times I had a right (per earth thinking) to be angry with them, and sometimes that makes it even more difficult to own up to my part because often they will not acknowledge their wrong.  Don’t apologize or ask forgiveness with the expectation that this makes everything better.  This makes everything right between you and God and that is the part you can control.

7.    Be ready to reap what you sow. 

Honoring God in obedience is always the right thing to do.  You will reap the blessing of God in your life; you just might not be familiar with this new frontier.  Reaping the blessing of God may result in the proverbial “blessing in disguise.”  You may not at first recognize the secret place of God on your job. Remember, if we look at this as dark territory or light territory, that if on the job you are living in “dark territory,” then God will lead you to a different place, a place where he is.  However, you may not know what this place looks like.  Maybe you haven’t been there before.

8.    Enjoy life on the Rock.

Living large on the Rock.  Can you see our wood chopping principle again?  We can claim the truth of these verses and gain some manner of satisfaction and comfort.  Even reading the following verses evokes an excitement in the greatness of God. 

But, dude, if we live these truths, God will blow our doors off with the present reality of his strength, protection, safety, defense, refuge and salvation.  The presence of God in our daily routine?  Ain’t nothing like it, baby!