Eternal Dividends

A couple of days ago, I scrolled through Facebook and saw a picture of a friend {acquaintance, really} who held a check in her hands - the first money she earned from selling an article. My heartbeat quickened for her, excited that she had the opportunity to write for pay, and just as suddenly, the quickening reflected jealousy instead of excitement. For half a second, I wondered why she had the double blessing of working a full time job for pay and being paid to write on the side. Writing is my job now, and it's still usually a volunteer effort.

I shook it off, reminding myself that I write because writing is IN me, and I can't help it. Money isn't my motivation - truly. She deserved her blessing, and I would be happy for her, I concluded. But then the next morning, I awakened to an email {so graciously written} from an organization I'd contacted about freelance work. They told me they only work with writers they know, wished me well, and said goodbye.

That little jealousy pang welled up again and I mumbled something to the Lord about why I can't know the "right" people.

Ryan and I sat down to do our devotions just moments later. We've been reading Beth Moore's book 90 Days with Jesus the One and Only, and among the words for that day, these:

"Every hour you do your job as working for the Lord gets punched on a time clock in Heaven. You get paid by God Himself for the hours you work as unto the Lord...Our future inheritance is real, and it far exceeds minimum wage. As you partner with Christ  at your job, you will be more efficient. No matter whether your new efficiency increases your earthly dividends or not, it most certainly will increase your eternal dividends, where moth and rust cannot destroy or thieves break in and steal."

I think you can understand why and how I was appropriately disciplined.


It's true. Every word Beth said is true. If we are working for the Lord - in whatever kind of work we do - what we do matters, and it pays off in ways we cannot see. {And by that, I mean it doesn't involve a dollar sign.} Even if we ARE getting paid richly in money for the work we do, the most important payment is the part we can't see - the eternal part.

We work on this fairness system we've concocted for ourselves, and we get understandably frustrated when other people "cut" in line ahead of what we're due. How much better to retrain our minds to remember that the eternal perspective is the most important.

It's a hard lesson to learn, and I'm not sure I arrived at it with any particular grace this week, but I am grateful God was quick with the right words. {As usual.} And lest you think otherwise by my potentially bumbling attempt to express myself today, I want you to know how profoundly grateful I am to have the opportunity to write. God is good. I'm thankful.