Balances
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
2 Cor 4:17 (KJV)
The load gets lighter, the time gets shorter and the difficulties have meaning once it is known there is purpose and reason for it all. There is such a tendency for the weight to become unbearable and the time unendurable when it seems like it is all for naught, but as soon as it is fully understood that each difficulty, each effort and each moment is but an investment in something that is exponentially greater in glory, the step takes on a spring, the face a smile and the timer loses its tick.
Several years ago, while living in Tulsa, I was employed as a night clerk at a convenience store. It was actually a chain of stores with several locations around town, and I was privileged to work at some of the more interesting and challenging ones. There was one especially that was located on the opposite side of the city in a particularly dangerous and seedy area just beyond the city center. It had more of a robbery risk than most and was actually robbed just before I arrived for my shift one evening.
While the night clerk had to run the register, the main duty was to have the whole store cleaned and presentable by the time the manager arrived at 6:00. There was always something to do and you could pretty much keep moving all night long, but those hours from 2:00 AM to 6:00 were long and quiet. You also never knew who might join you in your aloneness and in what condition they might be.
As long, lonely, dangerous and physically exhausting as it was to work my little job, there was something that somehow made it worth all the effort- every other Friday when the paycheck would be in my slot. Sometimes there would be an opportunity to work an additional shift, and even as much as all three shifts in a row. You would think that those working the additional shifts would be too tired and worn out to be of much use, but for whoever was working all those additional hours, there was an understanding with the employer that the rate of pay would go to time and ½. Instead of the normal amount on the check, there would also be an amount that was nicely increased at the expanded rate. Those people whom you might expect to be dragging were oftentimes energized and motivated by the understanding that an increased reward was directly related to their efforts. Now, nobody was getting rich, but there was something very real about the reward and its ability to take the mind off of the clock and work effectively through the night. As rewarding as it might have been to work hard and just take pride in a job well done, once the monetary compensation ceased to adequately offset the effort and time, there was no problem with saying, ‘adios’, to the folks at the store.
Jesus said that in this world we would have difficulties and things that we would be ‘afflicted’ with. I love it, though, that rather than just enduring each difficulty with an eye ever on the clock and a scale ever determining its weight of difficulty, we can know that directly related to everything that might tempt us to give up and quit is a reward of far greater magnitude. We are here promised that no matter the length of our endurance and how great the load we’re made to bear, every moment and every ounce is directly impacting our magnitude of timeless and unending heavenly blessing that is ever growing exponentially in size. Though it might seem like the night is lasting forever it will be shown to be the mere moment it truly is, and though the weight seems unbearable it will be shown to be but a feather in comparison to the glory our efforts are affecting. Every trial is not only much smaller than it seems, but it’s also being used to make our glory paycheck one that is more than worth it all. It will never be necessary or even conceivable to say ‘adios’ to the folks at the store when it is fully known that the balance will always go to the weight of God’s glory reward- just need to keep working till He shows up at 6:00.
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28 (KJV)