One Job

There’s a meme that’s popular on the Internet these days, and it’s “You had one job!” Usually this phrase is tagged to a picture of some sort of spectacular fail, an instant when someone messed something up, and the implication it should have been simple and yet . . . .

Well, the sad thing is that I have one job. Well, kind of two, depending on how OCD you are, but here’s how John puts it in 1 John 3:23 "And this is his command: To believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us."

It’s easy to imagine my face plastered all over Pinterest, or Facebook, or Tumblr. Picture: Me rushing past someone after church. Picture: Me watching TV while Dawn works on supper. Picture: Me zeroed in on the iPad while my grandchild plays on the floor. Picture: Me cutting short someone who walked into my office. Same caption for all of them: “You had one job!”

It’s hard for me to remember that the task at hand isn’t my real job. When I believe in Jesus, when that’s where I put my faith, then I get a new boss and a new job, just one job. And that job is to love and serve his people. How can they see Jesus in me, or even that I’m a Jesus-follower, when I launch into each day with an agenda of tasks that make me impatient or even oblivious to people?

Just one job. The rest is context, meant to get me out into the world so I can do my job.