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See all of rodham's blog posts
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DO THE WORK
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Posted July 19, 2008 at 10:01 PM
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Harry Sas had grown weary of the trash. A resident of Clevedon in England, Harry contacted his local city council and complained about the litter on his street.He expected the council to send out workers to clean up the mess. Some city employees did come out, but merely to hand Harry a litter picker, trash bags, and a brush.In other words, they equipped the garbage-weary resident to clean up Old Church Road by himself. He now makes frequent cleaning trips up and down the street—doing what he still wishes the city workers would do.So, why can’t the city keep the street clean enough for Harry? Here’s a statement from the authorities: “We try to clean the roads but there are nearly always cars parked there. We have also gone and picked up litter by hand. We did go out of our way to deliver a brush and litter picker to Mr. Sas, but we will continue to clean the road at different times of the day.”Harry’s plight reminds me of some instruction the apostle Paul gave to the church in Thessalonica. He wrote that each individual should seek to extend brotherly love “more and more” to other believers in Jesus (1 Thessalonians 4:9-10). Then he dug into what is a fruit of true love for others—working! Paul recognized that there were some believers who were not responsibly doing the “work with your hands, just as we told you” (v.11). By laboring diligently, they would help the local Jesus-followers as well as “win the respect of outsiders”—those who didn’t know Jesus (v.12).Whether in our family, at work, or at church, it’s vital that we do the work—not shirking responsibility or striving to get others to do what should be our contribution. Harry Sas got an unanticipated response from his local city council. The counsel Paul gave the Thessalonians is just what we need today. Do the work! —Tom Felten
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