Arsonists are often clever, though evil. By definition, they are: “people who intentionally start a fire in order to damage or destroy something.” Arson charges have been filed by people reacting to an email sent last week to federal employees. The match that lit the flame was the three sentence message: “Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager. Please do not send any classified information, links or attachments. Deadline is this Monday at 11:59p EST.” The groundfire is spreading across the bureaucracy…
Shockwaves are reaching seismic proportions. Reactions are ranging all the way to threats of violence. Rejection of authority – whether real or perceived – is layering toxicity onto accountability. Why has a simple request – issued in a workplace environment, where the existence of pay-for-effort presumes a level of reportability – sent reverberations across the national discourse?
Within paragraphs of the creation of humanity – in the Genesis account – a simple question was posed that exposed a poorly-hidden failure. In the site visit that puts the Creator into contact with Adam and Eve – both now wearing poorly-tailored fig leaves – who were summoned into a performance review with a crucial question:
“What is this you have done?” — Genesis 3:13
Both of the couple were culpable for their own part in the malfeasance; their dismissal from Eden put the whole of Creation into the tailspin that continues to careen out of control today.
One would assume that experience would create correction, but the recurring story of people being stupid adds chapters by the day. Adam and Eve had two sons – Cain and Abel – and the young men enter their adult years with divergent career paths. Cain became a farmer; he was the elder bro and expected respect. Abel was no direct competitor: he domesticated animals and became a rancher.
The genesis of religious practice emerges with the advent of sin. Both young men performed an act of contrition: they brought offerings to God from their work. Cain laid produce on the altar; Abel sacrificed an animal. God must have laid the protocols out before the procedures; all we know is that He rejected Cain’s fruit but accepted Abel’s fat. The immediate aftermath: Cain was ticked, royally.
His immediate reaction was immediately addressed by God:
“Why are you angry?… If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it” — Genesis 4
So, what’s the follow-up to a poor performance review? The story spirals into a Dateline script:
“Now Cain said to his brother Abel: ‘Let’s go out to the field.’ And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.”
The next scene is replayed among fallen people, over-and-over-again, with detail changes but essential repetition:
“Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ ‘I don’t know,’ he replied. ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’”
Here’s God’s email to Cain, short and sweet: “What have you done?” Busted, big time, but his guilt would now call for sentencing:
“Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground…”
Abel had done what was right; his “reward” for best behavior was betrayal by his older brother. Cain had rewritten the ground rules regarding relationship with God and demonstrated the corrosive nature of self-defensive rebellion against accountability. Wouldn’t God just let it slide?
God pronounced a life sentence for Cain. He was now disallowed from returning to his career path – “driven from the ground” – and he would live the rest of his life as a marked man, destined to die under judgement for his rejection of God’s ground rules for all aspects of life.
So… for you, and for me, the question is reasonable. God is sending His email – through His Spirit – to us, constantly: what are the five things I did last week that were in keeping with my calling?
“I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do”
— Jesus, in John 17:4
I’m living – with you – under His oversight,
Bob Shank
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Bob, Great topic timing! Why not applicable to the membership of institutional churches with pastors, elders, deacons and lay folks
We are more like ping pong balls bouncing off each other rather than “grapes meshed together to make new wine”. Caring requires inquiry and prayer and support to bring healing and hope. Here are five questions my real friends who care enough about me ask and it is reciprocal:
1. How would you describe your relationship with God at this point in time? 2. How are your relationships at home? 3. Where do you need prayer most? 4. What is your personal definition of success? 5. What would you like see improved or changed in your life to be more in conformity with God’s ways, thoughts and heart? …..BUT where do you find that caring accountability in the church or marketplace today?
This is one of your best posts, Bob. It is very timely and insightful. Here is another simple question God could ask us at our own personal eternal performance review; ” Were you building your own kingdom or mine?”
Well said Scott. You could even add, “your kingdom or mine” or nothing at all.
It is so important to constantly review where we have been and what we have done. This ensures we align with where we want to go and finish how we hope (i.e., “good and faithful servant…”). It’s challenging and convicting. Thanks.