GOOD WORKMANSHIP

Exodus 28:28, "Thus the two will be joined in a workmanlike fashion and will never come apart."

I am always amazed at how practical the Bible is. God is interested in the practical details of our every day lives. God gave explicit instructions how to make everything for the tabernacle in the wilderness. He told Moses exactly how He wanted each piece of furniture and each piece of clothing to be made. God is even a clothes designer. He planned the glorious garments for the High Priest to wear.

The High Priest also wore a breastplate and God gave precise instructions how the rings of the breastplate were to be tied to the rings of the ephod with blue cord, "thus the two will be joined in a workmanlike fashion and will never come apart." (Exodus 28:28 Knox) I was arrested when I read this Scripture. God is concerned about good workmanship. He showed Moses how to do it so it would never come apart. God wants things done properly. He does not want shoddy work.

I was brought up with the maxim, "If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well." I am sure you did too. And now you are training your children the same way. We continue this training from generation to generation. And it is important that we keep passing on this baton, because it is a biblical one.

Not only should we do each job we tackle to the very best of our ability, but if we start something, we should finish it. Sometimes we face obstacles in the things we start and we want to give up. My 90 year old father is staying with us at present. Whenever he faces a problem he says, "A good man's never stuck!" He will always find a way to fix the problem and finish the job. His father passed on these words to him and they became part of his life. He passed them on to his children and grandchildren! All my children and grandchildren know this statement by heart and I continually hear them quoting it.

God Himself shows us the example when He created the world. "And God saw every thing that he had made and, behold, it was very good. thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them." (Genesis 1:31; 2:1)

Jesus said, "My food is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work." (John 4:34; 17:4)

Paul had the same spirit when he confessed in Acts 230:24, "None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy." (2 Timothy 4:7)

We also read about Zerubbabel in Zechariah 4:9, "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it."

How about one more example? 2 Chronicles 3:1 says, "Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah." We then read in chapter 5:1, "Thus all the work that Solomon made for the house of the Lord was finished."

To see a job through to the end is a godly trait.

Let's carry on God's example of good workmanship in our own lives and impart this godly character trait into the lives of our children and grandchildren.

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

Prayer:

"Lord, please help me to reveal your character in my life by doing every job to the best of my ability. Help me to do everything in my home with good workmanship. And please help me to impart this godliness to my children."

Affirmation

Shoddy work does not belong in our family!

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