Byron Day
By Byron Day, BCM/D President and Pastor of Emmanuel Church, Laurel, Md.
When I was a senior in high school I had to take trigonometry. I was pretty good in math, but a lazy student. I only did enough to get by.
So throughout the year I did enough to maintain a C average. By the time finals rolled around and everyone was looking forward to graduation, it dawned on me that if I blew this final I wouldn’t graduate. So I set my mind to work.
In the evenings, I studied hard hour after hour. On the night before the exam, I wouldn’t take any calls from friends, didn’t play with my little brother, didn’t play with the dog, no TV, no radio, no stereo (the thing you listened to before IPods), just trigonometry, just cosine and tangents.
On a break as I was passing the television, my mother asked me to change the channel (we didn’t have a remote) and my response – what page. My family enjoyed a big laugh, but you see I had a mind to work.
Well, I took the test and the day came to pick up our report cards my only concern was one course – trigonometry. I picked up my grades from my teacher who looked at me with this funny grin. He told me that I had received the highest grade on the exam (98 if you must know). I rejoiced greatly (actually a shouted YES!) this all because I had a mind to work.
Recorded in Neh. 4:6 is the response of a people who were facing adversity, mockery and ridicule while engaged in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. The last phrase reveals that the people had a mind to work. I wonder what would happen if the saints of God would agree to work together for the glory of God and the advancement of His kingdom.
I wonder what would happen if we came together pooled our resources; spiritual, physical, and financial, in full submission to the leading of the Holy Spirit. I wonder what would happen if we laid aside our differences, cultural, economic, racial, and generational in order to fulfill the great commission and the great commandment of our Lord to love one another as He has loved us. Perhaps then we could labor side-by-side and experience together a mighty movement of God. (Sounds like a cooperative program.)
According to the listing in chapter 3, the people worked together regardless of their differences and personal preferences.
The goldsmiths, perfumers, women, political leaders, and priests all worked together to achieve a common goal of building a wall. I wonder what would happen if those who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb had a mind to work together.