Work It

“Whatever you do,

work at it with all your heart,

as working for the Lord,

not for men,

since you know that you will receive

an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.”

Colossians 3:23-24 

When I realized I wanted to become a human trafficking abolitionist, for years I harbored a fantasy that I would leave my current job and work for an organization like the International Justice Mission.  I wanted to do “important” work and free people from slavery.   I sent out resumes and requested informational interviews.  No one was interested.

I resented the anti-trafficking world’s disinterest in me.  Then I realized that it was all for the good (Romans 8:28).  The more I read about slavery, the more I realized that it’s the most vulnerable people who get enslaved.  The “at-risk” groups are the poor, the orphan, the widow and the stranger.

I’m an educator and a social worker.  If I do my job as an offering to God, I can do a lot of “important” preventive work.  If I can equip people with the essential life skills they need to stand on their own two feet, I will have done a lot to make them trafficking-resistant and slavery-proof.  I’ll no longer hear impoverished women entertain prostitution as a viable option to make ends meet.

We don’t have to do someone else’s job to make a difference in this world.  Do the job that God gave you, which includes being rich in good deeds, being generous and willing to share (I Timothy 6:18).  In addition to tithing, we have other ways to be generous and make an impact.  As the body of Christ, we can gather together to provide homes for single moms & their children, ensure that babies get preventive healthcare, help a woman get job training, or even send a child to school.  We’re blessed to have Christian organizations that can maximize the impact of our gifts (www.worldvisiongifts.org).

We all have to discern and decide to make a difference in our own way.

 “I was young

And now I am old,

Yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken

or their children begging bread.

They are always generous and lend freely:

their children will be blessed.”

Psalm 37:25-26