I Owe, I Owe So Off To Work I Go

I can still remember as a child going behind our home where a housing project was under way and collecting pop bottles to sell.  I would gather them until I had enough money saved to pay for the mail-order rocket I wanted. While picking up the bottles, I anticipated the fun I would have with the rocket.

God intended for us to enjoy our occupation and in so doing, find our greatest fulfillment.  However, in America it is a well-documented fact that most people are employed in jobs they dislike because they are boxed in by debt payments and responsibilities. Many people would rather be doing something else with their lives. Instead of accomplishing their dreams, life has become one big rat race to pay the creditor.

Most people are taught from early childhood that they should work hard in school, get a college degree and GET A GOOD JOB!  Well, one thing that you need to understand is that there is no such thing as a good job.

What if you opened the paper and saw this advertisement:  “Wanted: someone to work in our company.  We will give you a SET amount of pay each week.  No matter how hard you work or do not work during a given week, this pay is set.  You will be required to come in to work when we say and you may be required to work longer hours on certain occasions.  We will determine if and when you can go on vacation with your family.  You may not take time off for any special occasion such as your child’s birthday or other special event.  Although you may think that the pay you receive is not enough, we want to remind you that we offer security.  Your paycheck will be there every week.  Please call us for an interview.”

If you saw an ad like that, the first thing that would come to mind is CONTROL and SLAVERY.  A slave is someone who works for his master’s profit, not his own.  He works when and where his master says.  A slave does not have options in life.  His life is set out before him and is filled with hopelessness.  The master provides a home to live in and food to eat in exchange for the slave’s service.  For this, he expects the slave to be grateful.

Doesn’t this portray the average employee? The employee’s wages are fixed - usually at a rate just high enough to pay for the “essentials.”  The employee is grateful for the home that the master provides, even though his payment just covers the interest on the mortgage, and he really does not own it and probably never will.  The employee enjoys the car he drives.  The master provides enough money to pay the payment on the car; but by the time the car is paid for, it will need replaced.

Eventually, the slave realizes that he is just not getting ahead in life financially.  It may never occur to him that the main reason for his financial failure is the job that he had for all those years, not to mention the credit-and-sweat-it system that he relied on.

For the most part, the debt that he wrestled with through the years was also a result of the system.  The employee system offered just enough income to stay alive but not enough to take care of everything.  Debt was there to offer help.  Most people do not go into debt to destroy their lives; they are just trying to provide the things they need for their families.

The system is set up to support the profit of the company, not the profit of the individual.  Understand one fact: you are usually worth more to a company than what they pay you.  Companies are profit motivated.  You must make the company a profit above what they pay you in order to keep your job! Though the employee system is a good way to learn about business, it is also a good way to lose sight of your own dreams of freedom, provision and peace.

People have accepted the rules and limitations of employment as a normal way of life.  In doing so, they allow their dreams to slowly evaporate.  Instead of focusing on their dreams for the future, their thoughts now revolve around the activity planned for the weekend when they are free from their employment duties.  Think escapism. They begin to lose all ambition of really winning in life.

They have found that when they try to change things, the system does not reward their work.  So why try?  Productivity slows and the time clock becomes the enemy.  “Only a few more hours till freedom,” the employee thinks to himself each day.  He has become a processor, not an initiator.  He does what he is told when he is told to do it, never thinking for himself. There is a huge deficit of extraordinary leadership and problem-solving skills because the employee system usually does not celebrate extraordinary ideas or initiative. “Just be normal and get by,” seems to be the mantra.

Over time, a person within the system begins to lose his self-identity and his uniqueness.  Realizing that he is just a number, with others standing in line ready to take his place if he should fail, the employee loses his confidence.  The financial world becomes a scary place outside of the security of his inadequate paycheck.  Although the employee looks with awe and envy at those who live in the home he would like to have or drive the vehicle he really needs for his family, he cannot see himself outside of his employee world.  Although he dreams of that freedom, he sees no way out.

When I was just a child gathering pop bottles, I discovered that the faster I collected them, the sooner I could have the rocket I wanted; and the harder I worked, the more rockets I could buy.  I was in control of my financial future, and was not bound by the limitations of the employee system.  This was a lesson that began early and has lasted throughout my life.  I enjoy the work that I do now, living an entrepreneurial lifestyle. I am doing what God told me to do, unlike most people who do what their boss or their bills dictate.  I am not only providing for my family’s needs, but I am fulfilling the dream that God gave me for my future. Human beings were created to live with unlimited potential in an unlimited universe. The fall changed that, but as new creatures in Jesus, that same unlimited potential is yours. Live above the world’s system and step into God’s system of success, promotion, dreaming and doing.