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Come off the Reservation
by Wayne Brooks In the book, "Stronger than Steel: The Story of Wayne Alderson", R.C. Sproul tells how Wayne Alderson was invited to a retreat by men in his church. Wayne decided to go after a rough time dealing with labor strike issues at the plant, of which he was just made operations manager. He thought he would be able to relax but he heard a message that R.C. says stung his conscience. "The theme was a challenge to churchmen to put their faith and values to the test in the real world. They were told to come out from under the shelter of their steeples and into the marketplace. The speaker likened the Church in an age of secularism to an Indian (Native American) reservation. Intrusions of God were not welcome in the public sector. Believers could be 'safe' only if they stayed on the 'reservation.' He challenged the idea that separation of Church and State meant the same thing as separation of State and God. He maintained that God's authority applied to all of His creation, and His values were to be applied to all of life. Civil institutions should not become churches, but they were still fully accountable to God. Wayne heard God saying to him, Come off the reservationconfess me before men." This may be old stuff to some, but it seems in most jobs I have had, there is not much of a witness to God's power being done. The most that can be hoped for is people sitting around the break table cursing and telling dirty jokes one minute and mentioning going to church the next. How dare I judge these people but it seems that they still believe that their 'faith' has no business in their worklife. I was blessed to belong to a Church for many years that drove us little Indians off the reservation, which was good for me because I was never a very good little Indian. So if you are feeling a little uneasy now about your faith at work, try clocking in with your 'faith' in tow and use it. Come off the reservation. I'm not implying that you need to leave the Church, just take your faith with you "as you go", the Church or Reservation will be there when you get back. Wayne Brooks is a blue collar worker in the manufacturing field. He also writes a blog dealing with Christians in the workplace and Marketplace Ministry. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |