Skip to main content

Who Sees You?


   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 your back?

  Because God is watching!  He sees what we do and will reward us for it. We're not here to please men (ourselves included), we are here to please God.  Whatever task we 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!

        

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Until Midnight

    In Acts 20, there is the tragicomic event surrounding a young man by the name of Eutychus. He did what a lot of folks before and after him did, he fell asleep during a sermon. Unfortunately, he was setting in in the third story window at the time. So instead of nodding off and hitting the pew in front of him, he fell to his death. The good news was the apostle Paul was delivering the sermon and had the ability to bring him back.       I don’t know, however, if we can judge Eutychus too harshly. The sermon had gone on till midnight. Paul wouldn’t finish it up till daybreak. That’s a long lesson. I know some folks that might want to jump out of a window if I had a lesson that long, yet these Christians wanted to be there to hear Paul.   Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pushing for all night sermons but I think we might need to adopt these folks' dedication. They knew that Paul was only in town for a limited time only and they were determined to ...

The Mighty Gulf

  It is hard to get people on two sides of an issue to come together. Each has their own viewpoint, their perceptive, their own foibles, their own understanding.  To gain any common ground there must be something in common. Something or someone that can bridge the gulf between the two.   Could there be a greater gulf than there was between God and man? How could a holy perfect God find a way to connect to the fallen, imperfect mankind? How can one without temptation connect to those who are beset by it? How could limited mortal beings understand an omnipotent eternal God?   In 1 Timothy 2:5, we read, “ For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus .” The phrase mediator here describes a person that bridges the gap, a go-between. Jesus was one who could stand in both worlds. A perfect holy one who can understand our temptations, a man who would die yet live eternally, One who was God yet became flesh and dwelt among us. ...

How Dare You!

    Lewis Keseberg was tired of all the accusations against him so he filed a defamation lawsuit against Ned Coffeemeyer the man he saw as responsible for the rumors. The court found that Ned had indeed called Keseberg a “thief and murderer” without any proof but it didn’t rule very strongly in his favor by only imposing a fine of one dollar.  Maybe they were lenient because Ned Coffeemeyr had earlier rescued Lewis Keseberg from a terrible situation.  Maybe it was because the accusations while not proven were highly likely.  And maybe because Lewis Keseberg had admitted to eating people.   Lewis Keseberg was one of the members of the infamous Donner Party, a wagon train that got caught in the Siera Nevada mountain and resorted to cannibalism to survive. Keseberg wasn’t known as a very good person before those events and they certainly didn’t help improve his image. But to sue the very person who saved you seems to define the kind of person he was....