Mislaid Loyalty
October 31, 1991
Comrade Christian spends forty hours each week working downtown as a stockbroker at a nationally known firm. But he says his heart is not in it. His heart is on the family farm, where he spends four hours every Saturday.
Comrade became a stockbroker as a young man. He says he wanted to play with all the desktop computers in the downtown office. He wanted people outside his family to recognize his intellectual and social capabilities. He wanted to become known among the shirt-and-tie crowd downtown. He wanted the stimulation of second-by-second changes in the markets.
Comrade says he couldn’t sur vive the stress of the office if he didn’t spend time at the farm. When he is on the farm he is free to be himself, to enjoy his family, to find genuine satisfaction in the results of his work, and to enjoy the unlimited beauties of crea tion. He is troubled because his sons aren’t growing up in this en vironment.
The Christian Farm has never been a crisis. Comrade’s father and brothers are known to have the strongest farm operation in the area. Nobody knows the limits of their wealth. Much of their spending goes toward helping others. Their financial security seems absolute.
Comrade says he has a good relationship with his father and brothers. Many times they have invited Comrade to join them on the farm. But Comrade feels unable to make the change. Because of his years at the brokerage office, he feels locked into health insurance plans and retirement plans. He wants to maintain name-recognition in the financial community, and the camaraderie he feels among the stockbrokers.
It may seem unusual that someone would work forty hours each week doing what he says he enjoys less, and only four hours each week doing what he says he enjoys more. It is not. American Christians spend forty percent of their work hours to support the governments of the world, and only four percent of their work hours to support the kingdom of their Father in heaven.
Mislaid loyalty leads to loss of liberty.