Good Memories from Devil's Night
Devil’s Night was one of my favorite nights of the year growing up.
The night before Halloween in Detroit was a night plagued by arson.
The reason a darkly named and themed holiday like this would appeal to the son of a Baptist preacher is not what you might immediately (and WRONGLY) assume of a preacher’s kid.
On Devil’s Night our church would have an all-night rotation of men patrolling and protecting the church grounds. My dad would let us stay up late with him. We would play a game of headlight tag with another family of boys all over the campus.
The possibility of arson was hanging in the background, but I mostly enjoyed the late-night adventure with my brother and dad.
One year, someone did have the audacity to set the church dumpster ablaze. It was a spectacle. Thankfully no one was hurt and really nothing was damaged.
It seemed simpler back then.
People with bad intentions would sneak out at night and do something destructive. Good people could do their best to watch the neighborhood and hold on to what they built.
Something scares me far more than arson these days…
Quiet Quitting.
Quiet Quitting is a dangerous fire that springs from demonic fuel.
Proverbs tells us so…
"One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys."
Proverbs 18:9
Deciding to “mail it in” or just “bide our time” stands in the Devil’s family picture right next to arson.
Sometimes the quiet sibling is the one that does the most damage while nobody’s looking.
The insidious thing about quiet quitting is that you rarely smell the smoke or see the flames.
Quiet Quitting is like a carbon monoxide leak that silently brings death to a workplace, family, community, or a church.
How many church members have quiet quit their role in the body? Silently abandoning your role as a member of a body may save face but it still leaves scars.
Perverse narratives have infiltrated our culture and even enticed some believers into thinking their employer doesn't treat them well enough to work “diligently as for the Lord” (Colossians 3:23-24).
Christians work because we love our neighbor, and we trust the Lord will make our efforts fruitful in time.
Sitting in a cubicle or slacking on the job site will be revealed as foolishness when we stand for that final performance review on the Last Day.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
2 Corinthians 5:10
Christian, you and I don’t want to watch our work burn up when it’s all said and done.
12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.
1 Corinthians 3:12–15
Let’s be on the lookout and be diligent to bring our work to the Lord as an act of worship.
No quiet quitting in the church of Christ! Instead our work should be a loud declaration of praise.