Paul, where is the tent we ordered?”
“Paul, the tent you made has a leak. We need you to fix it now!”
Scripture doesn’t record anyone saying those words. But I can imagine the interruptions in a tentmaker’s workshop. Acts tells us that Paul stayed and worked with Priscilla and Aquila because they shared the same trade (Acts 18:2–3). Paul was an apostle called to proclaim the gospel. He also had a vocation. Like many of us, he knew what it meant to have work waiting for him each day.
For years, I felt that tension in my dermatopathology practice. I wanted to write, teach, and share the gospel. I also had cases to review, reports to complete, and physicians who needed answers. When a call interrupted a full day, it was easy to think only of what it was keeping me from doing. Yet behind the question was often a patient waiting for a diagnosis.
Perhaps you know that pull. You want to serve Christ, but your work has deadlines, demands, and people who need you. Then you go home to a family with needs of its own. Where does your calling fit?
Paul’s tentmaking helps me see that question differently. We are called to share the gospel and to be ambassadors for Christ. Our responsibilities at work are among the places where we live out that calling. The way we speak to a frustrated customer, respond to a coworker, or complete a task matters. So does finding the courage to speak about Christ when the opportunity comes.
That doesn’t make every interruption welcome. I suspect I would have sighed if someone brought back a leaking tent when I had somewhere else to be. But the person standing before me would still deserve an honest answer and my best effort to make things right.
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
1 Corinthians 10:31 (ESV)
Whatever you do includes proclaiming the gospel. It also includes the work on your desk and the person at your door.
We may not all be tentmakers. But we can ask God to help us honor Him through both our vocation and our witness, even when the day does not go as planned.
Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.
#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #fellowtentmakers #1Corinthians10:31
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I used to think of interruptions as things that kept me from more meaningful work. But in my dermatopathology practice, a call about a report often meant a physician was trying to help a patient who was waiting for answers.
Paul was called to proclaim the gospel, and he also worked as a tentmaker. His example reminds me that our Christian witness reaches into the ordinary demands of our vocations.
What interruption at work has helped you see the person behind the task?