1964 Awake! - Theocratic Collector.com

"'t is already the hour for you to awoke."
-Romon. 13,11
Volume XLV London, England, May 22, 1964 Number 10
IT WAS an early
summer day in an
eastern United States
city. Tents were being
erected for a convention
of Christian
ministers soon to be
held. The men doing
the actual labor were
themselves Christian ministers who had
arrived early to help to get things ready
for their convention, and they went at
their work energetically, whole-souled. The
tent company representative that was directing
the work was in no small way impressed
by their spirit of cooperation. He
observed, with a sense of humor: "You can
tell these men are working for nothing.
Men who work for money don't work that
hard."
He was right, but not altogether. Those
men were working for nothing, but only
as far as money was concerned. What
caused them to work the way they did?
Their love for Jehovah God and for their
fellowmen, especially for their fellow
Christians. They were devoted, dedicated
men. Apparently working at a thing wholesouled
is the exception rather than the rule
or it would not elicit such a comment as
the foregoing. But should this be so?
Do you have work to do, honest work
that accomplishes some useful purpose in
addition to providing yourself with a livelihood?
If so, then go at it in a whole-
MAY :!lB, 1964
souled manner. Give
it your undivided attention;
put your
heart into it. That is
the advice that the
Christian apostle
Paul gave to Christian
slaves in his day:
"Whatever you are
doing, work at it whole-souled as to Jehovah,
and not to men." -Col. 3: 23.
The apostle here used the Greek word
psyche} from which comes the word "psychology,"
and which Greek root means
"soul"; also the preposition "ek," meaning
"out of" or "from." He was urging those
slaves to work with their whole being or
soul. To work at something whole-souled
means doing all you can, doing it as well
as you can and doing it from (ek) the
right motive, as a matter of conscience,
seeking to please God and not men.
Why be whole-souled in your work? For
one reason, you cannot do anything when
you are dead: "All that your hand finds
to do, do with your very power, for there
is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor
wisdom in Sheol [the common grave of
mankindJ, the place to which you are going."
Yes, appreciation of life itself should
make you want to be whole-souled in your
work.-Eccl. 9: 10.
Further, you owe it to your employer
to be whole-souled in your work. Remember,
the apostle was first addressing slaves
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