GOD IS GOOD
Yesterday, Wednesday July 2, I went to visit my surgeon. He gave me a good bill of health. He made another appointment for me to see him in one month but said to be sure to cancel it if I was still feeling good by then. I am now allowed to wean myself away from my back support. Arlean scrubbed up a piece of plywood and put it on my side of the bed, under the mattress, to give my back a little more support and I feel good this morning.
After returning home to Olney, after the busy month with MAP students, I had 88 books to ship, a bunch of bookkeeping to do and supplies to purchase. Now that I’m getting caught up on my work I’m sure Sonny will be calling to have me start a new project. I love working with projects that advance God’s kingdom.
In my own personal Bible time I’ve been considering Acts 6 and the subject of delegating job responsibilities. The following is my conclusions.
Acts 6:1-7 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."...So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
Here we see that the majority of the church did the choosing or delegating of work responsibilities. And the Apostles, a prototype of the Elders, gave their attention not to the physical but to spiritual matters.
DELEGATION: The person who has a job to perform can generally delegate part or all of the work to another person. However, in doing so that person maintains authority over the delegate. For instance; say that a person is hired to dig a ditch from point A to point B. The authority is given to the delegate to decide which shovel to use, how large a portion of dirt is to be removed at each scoop and on which side the ditch the dirt is to be placed. If the “delegator” finds that the delegate has dug the ditch in the figure “S” he has the right to require it to be dug differently or he can give the job to some other person. The delegate might complain, “You gave ME the authority to dig the ditch so you have no right to demand further.” Just because the delegate complained, this would in no way take the authority away from the first person. Here in Acts 6 the congregation had the responsibility to feed the hungry so they had to right to delegate the oversight of that project to the “deacons.”
It should also be noted that we can arrive at a place where we have delegated our responsibilities to others to such an extent that we are no longer doing our job at all. For example: Some fathers hire so many people to look after their children that they are no longer doing the work of being a father. I would encourage elders to notice that your major work is prayer and the ministry of the word. Don’t neglect it.
