There is a large sign in My employment office that says, “WELCOME!”  This greeting is for all those who come through these doors seeking to be partakers of a Heavenly Calling in this earthly habitation called  “World”.  The qualifications are simple…your mission is to be molded and shaped into the likeness of the Apostle and High Priest of our profession; Namely, our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus.

I greet you in harmony in knowing that there is a better way; that faith without works is dead! and that faith without hope is like a hot coal being removed from the fire, placed on the hearth and watching it’s glow slowly go out.  For you have come to realize that you cannot continue to grow in this Christian life alone.  That is why you have darted into this employment office.  You need the warmth, fellowship and support of each other and the right Employer to give you an opportunity to excel.

Okay…so you have questions.

First, you need to analyze, agree to, and equate to the Job Description.  Know that you are applying for the position of ‘Discipleship‘, not ‘Welfare Recipient‘. You are to let go physically, emotionally and spiritually of all those things that so easily beset you and send you off on a tantrum.  The job description is posted below if you choose to accept it:

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-33).

You may be wondering…”How can this be accomplished?”  I’m so glad you asked.  The Second thing is to repeat the First.

The following is a Twenty-first Century Parable:

• Moses received the Law, a Blueprint of what of do.
• He and all the people knew who wrote those laws and who was their “Boss”.
• But the Company of God, Inc., began to realize that the people could not follow the rules and regulations on a consistent basis. The Company also realized that the consequences and penalties were too sever.

So, a new policy was initiated–A BETTER WAY–and the only requirement printed in the job description was…”You must have faith!”…along with its derivative meanings and keep them.

Revised Applicant Qualifications…  (“Elysian” means blissful, delightful.)

Because some of the Ole Timers were so set in their ways and thought that the “Better Way” policy was so easy that there must be a fly in the ointment somewhere, they resigned and went to work in their same capacity at another firm.

But the younger whipper-snappers accepted the challenge based on the promises of the Employer…that He would put His Son in charge.  And all the people had to do was to accept Him as the Supervisor, form a union (the Church) and begin to study the By-Laws (the Holy Bible).

You know the rest of the story; how Jesus has set an example that no man can top.  How He did not just sit in His Father’s office and drink coffee all day, but came down among the workers.  How He demonstrated His love by giving of Himself, tirelessly.

Nothing less is expected of us, Dear Readers of this Heavenly Calling, if we are to continue to be in the employ of this Company.  We must begin to exercise our faith by releasing it to others and depending upon our Faithful God Father to keep His promise to make everything all right.

Thank god I got the job!  And He knows how I take my coffee…with 3 blood drops of sugar and no cream!

Scripture References:   “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage when you are punished by him.  For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves and chastises every son whom he receives.”  Hebrews 12: 5b-6

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses (former laborers), let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run (work) with perseverance the race (job) that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter (and Supervisor) of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God”   Hebrews 12:1-2

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