Daily Devotional for August 19, 2021
A Good Start, But. . .
Simon burst into the living room. “Look what I’ve got! I bought a new model plane with my birthday money from Grandma.” Simon held up the box so his dad could see the picture of his new model.
“Very nice,” replied Dad. “You’re getting quite a collection.”
Simon nodded. “Now I’ve got a Tiger and a Hornet and a B-52. I’m going to start working on this one right now!”
Simon went to his room and eagerly removed the contents of the box. He turned on his desk lamp and got to work. A while later, Dad came to the door.
“Look, Dad,” Simon said. “I’ve already got the wings in place!”
“That’s great, Simon,” Dad said. He looked at the completed models lining the wall of Simon’s room. “You’re a hard worker when it comes to putting plane models together. But I think there was some other work you were supposed to do today that didn’t get finished. Ring a bell?”
Simon hesitated. “Oh—right. I was supposed to do the dishes while Mom’s at work.” He sighed. “I did unload the dishwasher.”
“Yes, and that’s a good start, but you left all the dirty dishes in the sink. That’s not a job well done.”
“Sorry. I guess I got distracted when the package with my new plane arrived.”
Dad sat down on the bed. “I think you need to work a little harder at completing other tasks besides these model planes. God tells us to be faithful in all things, big or small. We need to show the same faithfulness in our work that Jesus did.”
“Jesus had to do dishes too?” Simon asked.
Dad laughed. “Maybe He did, but I was thinking of a different job He came to earth to do. Do you know what that is?”
“Um…dying on the cross?” Simon guessed.
“Right,” said Dad. “Jesus completed what needed to be done so we could be saved—the hard work of dying for our sins. He was faithful in the task He’d been given to do, from start to finish.”
Simon nodded. “I’d better go finish the dishes,” he said, turning off his lamp. “Mom won’t be happy if she sees I’ve been unfaithful in that task!”
-Catherine Runyon
How about you?
Are you a hard worker? Are you faithful in all the tasks you’ve been given to do—or just the ones you find interesting? It’s not always fun to do things like chores or schoolwork, but when we show responsibility in completing our tasks—even though they may not be the ones we want to do—we show the same kind of faithfulness in our work that Jesus did. Trust Him to help you be a faithful worker in all you do.
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