Verse of the Day for May 4

These words were first read aloud to slaves. That is worth sitting with before anything else. Paul is speaking to people whose work belonged to someone else and was rarely thanked.

He names a temptation they knew well, eyeservice. Working hard while the master is looking, easing off the moment he leaves the room. It is a very human way to survive, and Paul does not mock it.

Instead he changes the audience, telling them to do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men. The person checking your work may not be fair. The One watching it always is.

He also promises them something no earthly master could give, the reward of the inheritance. Slaves could not inherit anything. Paul says these ones would. Their unseen labour was being recorded in a place no one could take from them.

Think of the cleaner who mops the hospital corridor at three in the morning, when no supervisor walks through. If she does it heartily, it is done as to the Lord. That corridor has an audience after all.

The work nobody checks is still work done for someone.

You serve the Lord Christ in the boring hours as much as in the visible ones.