Practical Devotion

“May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands.” -Psalm 90:17

Do you ever wonder if your work matters? Perhaps you are a stay-at-home mom, and you have just changed another diaper. Perhaps you are a mechanic, and you just repaired another car. Perhaps you are in business, and you have just had another conflict with an employee. Perhaps you are a teacher, and you have just taught another class the same lesson. You work as hard as you can, everyday, but you can't help but wonder, does it matter? Am I making any kind of impact? Does anyone care?

Believe me, you aren't the first person to ask these questions. In fact, you are in extremely good company.

“Call me Ishmael.” It is the opening line to Moby-Dick, in all likelihood, the most highly regarded novel ever written on American soil. But did you know that the novel was poorly regarded in its day? And did you know that its author, Herman Melville, who is now considered a literary genius, had to give up a full-time writing career because he couldn't make a living.

It's true. As Andrew Delbanco writes in Melville: His World and Work, during his lifetime Melville made less than $10,000 as a writer. And Moby-Dick, widely accepted as a masterpiece, was, by all accounts, a flop in its day. “During Melville's lifetime, Moby-Dick never came close to selling out its first edition of 3,000 copies, and when, in December 1853, the unsold copies burned up in a fire in the publisher's warehouse, few noticed and fewer cared.”

With mounting debts and a diminishing audience for his books, Melville had to eventually find a job working at a customs house in Manhattan.

“For the better part of twenty years, beginning in 1866, he took the horse car down Broadway six times a week, then headed west, where he walked the docks along the Hudson down to the Battery....On West Street, wearing a brass-buttoned woolen coat modeled on a navel officer's uniform, he shared an office with other inspectors in what was little more than a dockside shack, where he prepared and filed paperwork. His job was to ensure that the required duties were paid on unloaded cargo. He may have occasionally inspected the personal baggage of disembarking passengers, but his main tasks were to confirm the accuracy of cargo lists from newly docked ships, secure the mail, collect fees, and dispatch runners to merchants awaiting delivery. It was not savory work.”

I can only imagine the discouragement Mellville must have felt. But, as you know, following his death, Melville's work was rediscovered, and both he and his work top the literary ranks.

“But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."” -1Samuel 16:7

Have you been to the gym lately? If so, let me ask you a rather unfair question: What's your motive? I'm sure the answer is your health and not your looks right? Or let me ask you another unfair question: When you look in the mirror do you ever spend some extra time taking inventory? You know what I mean, how's the stomach looking, what about those thighs, and, of course, how's that...BUT, on second thought, I'd better not go there. Come on, let's be honest, we're all more than a little bit concerned about our appearance.

So let me ask you one final question: Why are we so concerned about our appearance?

Part of it is sheer vanity. We are proud and so we want other people to think we are attractive. But, there is another reason why we all care so much about our appearance. It's because someone has been lying to us.

We live in a culture that assigns value solely on beauty. Browse the internet, turn on the television, or go to the movies and you'll be inundated with the best looking men and women in the world. The message is subtle but clear. Attractive people are more valuable. And we get the message. As a result, we all fall into one of two categories: those who exercise like machines in order to look good, but who still feel insecure about their appearance or those who wish they exercised like machines in order to look good, and who forever feel insecure about their appearance.

Of course, the saddest part about all of this insecurity is that we are listening to a lie. Let me tell you a quick story about Anna Held. She was a French actress in the early 1900s, but she died unexpectedly at a fairly young age. Bruce Felton and Mark Fowler explain:

“Miss Held’s principal claim to fame...was the most dramatic hourglass figure ever to appear on stage or screen. When she passed away suddenly in 1918, her doctors officially maintained that the cause of death was myeloma. But after an in-depth investigation, reporters revealed that the proud actress had been experimenting with crash diets and had actually had her lower ribs surgically removed to preserve her incredible eighteen-inch waistline at age forty-five. The newspaper reports claimed that Anna ultimately died of internal injuries caused by tight lacing of her corset.”

An eighteen-inch waistline at age forty-five! That is incredible, and it came with an incredible price. Anna Held allowed herself to be defined by her appearance and the results were deadly.

He is not here; he has risen!- Luke 24:6

It has been almost three years since Aunt Kay died. I was reminded last week when I stumbled upon a bookmark that commemorated her death. You never forget, but you don't always live remembering, if you know what I mean.

Losing a loved-one is hard for innumerable reasons, but one reason is because of the greatest question, where are they? There was a unique being, a friend, has death swallowed up that identity?

I just came across a great scene in the book Malcolm by George MacDonald. Malcolm and his friend the schoolmaster are sitting in a graveyard following the death of a local woman. There they have the following conversation:

“See,” said the schoolmaster, “how the shadow from one grave stretches like an arm to embrace another. In this light the churchyard seems the very birthplace of shadows.” A brief silence followed. “Does the morning or evening light suit such a place best, Malcolm?”

The pupil thought for a while.

“The evening light, sir,” he answered at length, “for you see the sun's dying like, and death's like falling asleep, and the grave's the bed and the sod is the bedclothes, and there's a long night ahead.”

“Are you sure of that, Malcolm?”

“It's the way most folk sees it, sir.”

“Come here, Malcolm,” said Mr. Graham, and took him by the arm and led him toward the east end of the yard.

“Read that,” he said, pointing to a flat gravestone covered with moss, but the inscription nevertheless stood out clearly: “He is not here; he is risen.”

While Malcolm gazed, trying to think what his master would have him think, Mr. Graham resumed: “If he is risen—if the sun is up, Malcolm—then the morning and not the evening is the season for the place of the tombs; the morning when the shadows are shortening and separating, not the evening when they are growing all into one. I used to love the churchyard best in the evening, when the past was more to me than the future. But now I visit it almost every bright summer morning and only occasionally at night.”

“But, sir, isn't death a dreadful thing?” asked Malcolm.

“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” -Matthew 5:16

What do people think of us? I don't mean of you personally, I mean of us Christians. Wait, on second thought, perhaps I don't want to know.

Some time back I posted an article entitled An Open Apology From An Evangelical Christian on a website for atheists. While making it clear that I believe in God and that His name is Jesus, I wanted to try to break through some of the stereotypical views of Christians. The article was basically an apology for all of the things that Christians have done wrong, like making people projects and arguing instead of listening.  In response, I got a variety of comments that ranged from “I don't believe you are real” to “At least it shows that not all Christians are jerks.” (I also got a comment that was a tad bit angry and frightening, but I won't share that one.)

But at the root of all the comments was the pre-supposition that Christians are judgemental. Why do so many people think this? Well, I believe that, in part, the problem is that we have been defining ourselves by the wrong things.

In What's So Amazing About Grace, Philip Yancey tells a story that illustrates my point.

“Mark Twain used to talk about people who were 'good in the worst sense of the word,' a phrase that, for many, captures the reputation of Christians today. Recently I have been asking a question of strangers—for example, seatmates on an airplane—when I strike up a conversation. 'When I say the words 'evangelical Christian' what comes to mind?' In reply, mostly I hear political descriptions: of strident pro-life activists, or gay-rights opponents, or proposals for censoring the Internet. I hear references to the Moral Majority, an organization disbanded years ago. Not once—not once—have I heard a description redolent of grace. Apparently that is not the aroma Christians give off in the world.”