Divine Drudgery February 19, 2015

The Initiative against Drudgery 

Arise, shine. Isaiah 60:1 ESV

We have to take the first step as though there were no God. It is no use to wait for God to help us, He will not; but immediately we arise we find He is there. Whenever God inspires, the initiative is a moral one. We must do the thing and not lie like a log. If we will arise and shine, drudgery becomes divinely transfigured.

Drudgery is one of the finest touchstones of character there is. Drudgery is work that is very far removed from anything to do with the ideal—the utterly mean, grubby things; and when we come in contact with them we know instantly whether or not we are spiritually real. Read John 13; we see there the Incarnate God doing the most desperate piece of drudgery, washing fishermen’s feet, and He says—“If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.” It requires the inspiration of God to go through drudgery with the light of God upon it. Some people do a certain thing, and the way in which they do it hallows that thing for ever afterwards. It may be the most commonplace thing, but after we have seen them do it, it becomes different. When the Lord does a thing through us, He always transfigures it. Our Lord took on Him our human flesh and transfigured it, and it has become for every saint the temple of the Holy Ghost.

Chambers, Oswald (2011-05-01). My Utmost for His Highest, Classic Edition (pp. 35-36). Discovery House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Over the years, I have heard several sermons delivered about Jesus washing the feet of his disciples.  Generally the focus is on one of two things:  the servant mindset demonstrated by Christ, or that we only need a spiritual footwashing after salvation, not a heat-to-toe bath.  Chambers emphasizes another aspect of the event: drudgery.

As Chambers points out, drudgery is work that is of the most base, mundane type imaginable.  Yes Christ emphasized the importance of serving others, but he could have done that by serving them dinner, hemming their tunics, or mending fishing nets.  Yet the Incarnate God chose the "most desperate piece of drudgery".  Yet that act of servitude has become one of the most recounted tales from the life of Christ.  God transfigured drudgery into divine.  The humble became holy.  The common became Christ-like.

Whatever the task, low or great, if we are obedient in our service to Him,