MBC Tysons Campus Blog

Whoever thought of a straitjacket needed to be in one. Okay, the original intention was worthy – keeping deranged or angry people from harming themselves or others – but, the misuse of it must have been torturous. Can you imagine being in a straitjacket against your will?

Actually, that may be how you feel about your job, what you’re obligated to do day-by-day. No freedom to influence decision making. No prospect of using the skills and talents God gave you. You feel guilty. “Doesn’t he hold me accountable?” you ask yourself in despair. “I’m in a straitjacket. My life is going by. How can I escape?” Here are some ideas…choose the one(s) that fit best.

Accept slave-status. In his predictable counter-intuitive thinking, God raises the status of a slave to heaven’s highest regarded servant. To Roman slaves, with no chance of escape, often brutally treated, Paul writes, “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men.”[1] No matter what your job requires, it’s Jesus himself that you’re serving. You can’t get a better job than that.

Frame your own room. An architect wrote that his toughest job was to redo a condo with room requirements that the current structure would not allow. His solution? Build inside the unchangeable structure the framing that would allow for the new rooms. That’s what Paul and Silas did while in prison. Intimidation and being beaten up didn’t keep them from doing what they loved: singing hymns and spreading the joy of the Gospel to others. Within the confinements of your job, create your own rooms in which you can use and express your talents. You don’t need permission.

Work inside, live outside. Many people don’t make their fortunes from their jobs. They invest their wages elsewhere. Work at your job and have the enjoyment of investing your talents and gifts elsewhere. That’s what my father-in-law did. On the weekends and holidays, he started a camp for kids while still running his asphalt paving business in Washington, DC.

If the door opens, leave. Paul wrote to Roman slaves who had become Christians, “Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so.”[2] There isn’t necessarily a virtue staying in a hard place of restrictions. If the door of freedom opens, sprint!

Look to leave and do what you love. God preordains the good works he wants you to do[3]; he gives you the talents and gifts for those works[4]; he expects you to get on the move, use your own creativity as you choose the context. Keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking for the place of your choice and his leading. The Lord will guide you, as he did the servant of Abraham who was on the move.[5]

Remember that there is no correlation between straitjackets and joy. Your relationship with the Lord, your source of deepest joy, can never be laced up by anyone or anything. You’re free! So act that way.