Ephesians 6 and a Simple Prayer

I finished reading Ephesians today. The Armor of God is probably the most famous part of Ephesians chapter 6, but the message about the slave and the master was most striking to me today.

God tells slaves to respect their masters and to work hard and enthusiastically for them. As you can imagine, I'm almost certain that this was difficult. God tells slaves to work for their master as if they were working for Christ. Can you imagine being a slave and wanting to do that? I can't. A lot of times these verses are applied to the employee-employer relationship. That is what got to me today.

I am FAAAAAAAAAAAAR from enthusiastic about school. I certainly do not work as if Christ was my boss. I'm a bit of a rabble-rouser; always have been. I'm not vitriolic in these actions. I just can't stand inefficiency and bureaucracy. When you are working on a Ph.D. at a state university, you are burdened with both of these. As you might could imagine, I voice my opinion when things don't go like they should. Here, things rarely go as they should and everyone knows it, so it isn't like I am the outcast.

Anyways, I really have to work on this. I often pray that I will enter school with a good attitude. It is difficult. Not only am I one of two professing Christians in the program, but the stress levels are high amongst students and faculty, and many of the problems are endemic. How does one survive in such an environment without becoming bitter?

Getting over this bitterness is probably one of the best ways to show people that a relationship with Christ changes people. If I can show students and faculty that I am always joyful, then perhaps they will wonder what makes me different. That is the kind of message I need to be sending. Ephesians 4:31 tells us to "Get rid of all bitterness." Please pray that I can do this.