Do the Work and Seek Joy

Scripture: For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am compelled to preach—and woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this willingly, I have a reward, but if unwillingly, I am entrusted with a commission. 1 Corinthians 9:16-17

Observation: Paul is responding to criticism from the church in Corinth, which likely involves their dissatisfaction in providing for him when he comes there. As he addresses that topic directly, he also addresses is attitude and mindset toward being an apostle. Specifically, he does not boast about being some important apostle, nor about being a leader in the Church. He just does the work he is assigned.

Paul listens for the Lord, and is obedient. He recognizes that some assignments are pleasing to him (those he will do willingly) and some are less fulfilling (those he will do unwillingly). However, he obeys and does them all. Doing the pleasing assignments give him a reward, likely in the form of joy or happiness or earthly comforts. Doing the less pleasing assignments give him a different type of reward ... the knowledge that he has been "entrusted with a commission," and has performed it faithfully. This may not be a "reward" in the same manner as some kind of tangible element of life, but it is a satisfaction that he knows will be recognized by the Lord.

Application: Again I consider my own work and my own life, and I know that for the majority of time in my life - now measured in decades - I have done the less fulfilling work. Don't get me wrong, I have been rewarded far beyond what I deserve! But those rewards have not been in the form of 'joy' found in the work.

This feels like the lesson ... to use the tangible payments of the work to find joy in the Lord. That does not mean to spend the money frivolously as one would in their youth, but rather to recognize the commission, feel fulfilled by the fact I have been entrusted with that commission, and to feel joy as the outcome of that relationship.

This again requires a closer relationship with the Lord, and again I desire that. Even as I do work I am unwilling to do, I wish to hear that this work is indeed assignment to me as a commission from the Lord, and eventually that I have done it well.

Prayer: Lord, I do try to believe that even my work is a holy commission from you. I am likely missing a component of it, and I desire to hear that so I may do it. I am not a preacher, nor should I be. I desire only to find joy, and serve you, in the commission to which I am entrusted. Amen.