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Bulletin articles
Window Box Weeders
“It’s not that I’m afraid to work, lady; but there isn’t much doing in my particular line of work.”
“And what is your particular line?” the housewife asked of the beggar.
“I’m a window box weeder, Ma’am.”
Maybe that is why it is so hard to get volunteers to help with the work of the church. Unless a person has had special training along a certain line, he often has the mistaken notion that he is not qualified to do the work. How often we hear the words “I can’t” when seeking volunteers for service in the vineyard of the Lord. Many Christians excuse themselves from doing the Lord’s work because they haven’t been trained (and they make no further effort to become trained). “I can’t preach.” “I can’t teach a class or a home Bible study.” “I can’t lead singing or lead in public prayer.” “I can’t visit the sick, the needy, the bereaved, or the wayward child of God.”
Well, what can you do? Weed window boxes?
There is much to be done in the vineyard of the Lord for those who are willing. Being willing is much more important and necessary than being highly qualified. “The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the laborers are few” (Matthew 9:37). Christ did not choose professors from colleges to be His disciples. Rather, He called the humble people, the fishermen, and then trained them to do His work. Training brethren is no problem; finding brethren who are willing to “learn a new line of labor” is the big problem.
Jesus said, “I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work” (John 9:4). If it were necessary that the Son of God must work while here on earth, surely we ought to conclude that we must work also. Our Lord said further: “I have meat to eat that you know not . . . My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to accomplish His work” (John 4:32,34). Jesus did not do the work of the Father as one who is unwillingly driven to a task, but He did it as if it were the greatest joy of His life. The individual today who is truly converted to the Lord will find his greatest delight in doing the things the Lord wishes done. We will not have to be driven to attend worship; we will not have to be compelled to visit the sick and to care for the needy; but we will find our greatest joy and satisfaction in doing these things — if we are truly like Jesus.
How about learning to be the kind of worker Christ would have you to be? If we make the effort to learn, we will find that the task is far easier than we probably thought. “We are laborers together with God” (1 Corinthians 3:9) and this fact assures success. Paul wrote, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13). The individual who never tries is the only one who never fails. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).
The man who would seek heaven empty-handed is not really seeking heaven at all.
- 20230507_Window_Bo ... bert_Harkrider.pdf (195.24 kB)
