“So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.”

I was in a meeting last week where the Chair of the Board was finishing his term and handing over the leadership to another person who would take on the role for the next three years.  As a parting set of words the retiring chair explained the ancient tradition of passing the baton filled with messages that runners would carry from one point to another.  He’d actually created a baton made of wood where he had every past living leader of the organization sign.  The new person received the baton and said, “As you were talking about this baton passing thing, I kind of thought it a little corny until I now have it in my hand and see all of these signatures and recognize the responsibility of taking over and keeping up with what they have accomplished before.”  I thought to myself, how cool it would be if in every job we created a signed baton and had it passed on when someone was promoted or left the company? Maybe we would take the gravity of what are expected to do, much more seriously.

Every part of working and living for the glory of God is another segment in bringing His kingdom to others.  Yes, we passing and receiving the baton each and every day and with it comes the same level of seriousness and responsibility that the prior followers of Jesus took when they were alive.  If today it feels like something is with us that we are carrying, it might well be the baton of the Holy Spirit.

Reference: 1 Corinthians 15:58 (New Living Translation)