“Do Not Be An Eye Servant!”

“Do Not Be An Eye-Servant!”(Phi.2:12-13).
“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”
I was Synod Clerk of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC) for five years. All things being equal the Synod Clerk is saddled with the task of administrative oversight of all PCC staff. This responsibility includes receiving complaints about workers, planning transfers and appointments based on competence, etc. Again, all things being equal, appointments are based on competence. The Synod Clerk does this in collaboration with the hierarchy.
One fact which all past Synod Clerks can attest to is that some staff obey only in the presence of the immediate administrator. A good number of staff are eye-servants and busybodies!
Administrators within public and civil services will tell you it is worst amongst public and civil servants. The matter is even compounded when an employee has a godfather/godmother at the top.
If we do not take care of secular matters how much more difficult can it become to obey Christ and his Father who are seemingly physically absent!
Paul’s premise to the Philippians is that they “have always obeyed.” And their obedience is not only when he is around, but even in his absence.
One of the funniest stories of the missionary era is the story of the white Rev Father who was supervising work over the parishioners. He got tired and wanted to go have some coffee. So he removed his eyeglasses and placed it at a strategic spot. He then told the Christians that he has left his eyes behind to check on lazy workers.
You may say this is one of such stories of colonial mentality that considered Africans as fools. That may be true, but the story is very reflective of eye-servants and busybodies that fill the continent.
We cannot make progress with adages like, “If I work or I noh work, I go chop!” In the same way we cannot grow in faith if we do not constantly obey the instructions and teachings of Holy Writ.
To work out our salvation with fear and trembling is to be in constant reverence to the LORD through the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not about works as a guarantee to faith. Rather, it is that spiritual growth is not an event, it is a process. The individual may know when this process has been set in motion, but one never can tell when it ends.
We do not need the eyeglasses of God before we obey him. We obey him because he is always with us – even in the most hidden places. He is the one working in us, and this is possible when we obey him all the time.
Weekend prayer: Holy Spirit prompt in me the spirit of constant obedience to the LORD. Amen!
Have a blessed weekend! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.