"Put me to doing, put me to suffering."
Wesley's third line in this powerful prayer is an honest but difficult one. The prayer says, as do we, if we make it our prayer, that we are willing to be put to work and even very difficult work. What is your work ethic? Who or what shaped you in setting your path in a work or career that blesses you, blesses God, and blesses God's people? Those of us who are children of hard-workers know and practice a work ethic that seeks to get things done no matter how long the hours or the need. I saw in my father one who rose up early in the morning to be gone while it was still dark and to return home only after he had put in the hours of work required of him. I learned of overtime and overtime pay. I learned more though, about commitment to task.
A few years ago, a seminary colleague of mine in one of her talks to a national audience made headlines when she spoke of the number of "unemployed saints" that the Church has today. Some have since spoken of "underemployed saints." And, just in case you think you're not being mentioned when the word saint is used, think again. The biblical understanding of a saint is one who has given their life to Jesus Christ and maintains a relationship with God. And to all saints in the Bible, the message from God and later Jesus, always started with "Arise, and go..." Many of us stop at arise.
Ours is to do, for the sake of love. Ours is to do even the most difficult and sometimes painful of tasks to transform the world. Our is not a call to idleness or trivial tasks. Ours is to partner with God's Holy Spirit to bring about opportunities and situations where God's message of love for the world can be shared. And the loudest and clearer work will not be by our word necessarily; it will be what our hands and feet are doing to show that God cares.
John Wesley modeled a life patterned after Jesus. Early to rise, Wesley thought the best hour to commune with God was 5:30 a.m. and as he neared his death, he ordered his friends to bury him at 5:30 in the morning. His teachings can be summed up in what Wesley did while alive, “Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can.” Can we do likewise?
PRAYER: Amazing God, transform me and the person who prays this as their own, to be like Jesus and those who have come after Jesus who have modeled a life of dedicated service, so that as I pray this prayer, these can truly be my words, "I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering," I pray in Jesus' name, amen.
