Framing Rather Than Finishing

If I ever go into the construction business, I want to do the framing of the building, not the finish work.  The framing consists of heavier work and pounding, but the finishing work is so tedious.  When framing a building, a few hours worth of work can yield immediate, tangible results.  In just a few hours, the construction site goes from the concrete pad/foundation, to having walls and actually looking like a building.  The finishing work consists of the minutia, like putting on baseboards, trim about doors, laying tile and a host of other time-consuming jobs.  Finishing also takes more skill than framing and every detail reflects the craftmanship of the worker.  You can work all day, doing incredible work and the building will look quite similar to the beginning of the day.  Yet, the finishing work is what will make a building look complete and elegant.  Good finishing work can make the most simple building look beautiful and inviting.

With the Hillcrest Community Fair, Vacation Bible School and the E-Waste Recycling Outreach coming up in the next few weeks, I was thinking about the contrast of framing versus finishing.  Many Christians want to be framing Christians:  They want to be involved in ministries which are high profile or they want to be on the stage or they only want to serve in one specific area and are inflexible if asked to try something different.  Many Christians want to be the face of Jesus rather than His hands and feet.  We want to to do the things which people notice and are high profile.  Yet, true service is more about finishing than framing.  For the Fair to be successful, there are those who have already spent hours planning and preparing.  There will need to be people who show up early to set up and prepare for the event.  There will need to be servants who will stay until late in the evening to take everything down and clean up after the Fair.  There will need to be finishing servants who are willing to serve in booths or ministry opportunities which are not glamorous and do not get a lot of attention.  Events like the Fair reveal the character of a church and shows whether a church is full of framers or finishers.

I am grateful to serve in a church with lots of finishers who are willing to serve where ever they are needed and who are willing to take on one ministry at the Fair and dedicate their evening to that one ministry.  Here is one example of finishing ministry:  Because of the pace of the Fair, we are not able to feed the workers, only the guests.  We ask all members to eat before they come because they will not have time to eat once they arrive at the Fair.  Rarely have we ever had anyone complain about this needed aspect of the Fair, but members consistently accept this and make ministry more important than their stomachs.

For those of you who are members of Hillcrest, the finishing work begins this Sunday as we go into our community to knock on doors and invite people to the Fair.  In the past, it takes knocking on fifteen doors to get one family to attend the Fair.  Definitely not framing work, but finishing work.  It is always hot when we go out and knock on doors and the streets around the church are all on steep hills.  You also have to bring your own lunch so we can eat right after church and then begin our knocking.  This is not a ministry for people who like the spotlight are who want to be high-profile.  Yet, if we don't knock on doors, we miss the greatest opportunity we have each year to contact our neighbors.  If we have forty people who are willing to finish by knocking on doors for an hour and a half, we can invite over 800 of our neighbors.  Jesus wants us to go out and engage our community, inviting them to a saving relationship with Him.  Will you be a part of this finishing work this coming Sunday?  If you are not able to participate or don't live in the area, would you pray that people would be interested and willing to come to the Fair?  Would you pray for us to have divine encounters?

I think Jesus was more about finishing than framing, but He got the most publicity with His framing actions.  However, His finishing work is apparent in the Apostles after his resurrection as they turned the world upside down.  Jesus did those things which were tedious, time-consuming and not yielding of immediate results because He knew that which lasts and that which is temporary.  

So whatever task you are facing today, would you approach it from that perspective?  Would you approach it from a finishing mindset rather than a framing mindset?  May this Sip from the Well refresh you to serve as a finisher!