Do Your Duty

As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the multifaceted grace of God  1 Peter 4:10 NASB

Employ it – I’ve written a lot of linguistic studies.  More than 8000 and counting.  But today I just don’t feel like it.  I feel spent, lonely, anxious.  I’m feeling worn out.  Duty isn’t high on my list.  I want to take a break, not think, not write, have a piece of my wife’s awesome apple pie.  What’s this thing about duty anyway?  How long can we just keep going and going without any really deep satisfaction?  Oh, that sounds like a therapist topic—the fact that after a lifetime of work I still don’t feel real satisfaction.  I wish I could just play the Blues and forget about all the other pressing issues.  But as they say, “Duty calls.”  Who’s “they” anyway and why should I really care what “they” say?

Perhaps you’ll answer, “Working for the Lord is a joyous task.”  That sounds good—and right, but it isn’t always true, is it?  At least that’s my experience.  The truth is that the endless postponement of the Messiah’s return leaves me baffled and tired.  Of course, I get the theological part.  God waits so that more might be rescued.  But that implies eternal waiting.  There will always be more to rescue.  And in the meantime, “Duty calls.”  When spiritual enterprise becomes ʿāṣab, something seems wrong (oh, ʿāṣab is the root of the word ʿiṣṣābôn which you will find in Genesis 3:17).  At least I think it feels wrong, probably because I have been taught since my childhood that serving God is a delight.  Maybe my paradigm needs revision.

Or maybe I’m just depressed because I can’t seem to find that joy like David did when he said that all he wanted to do was sit in the Temple entrance.  Then again, maybe David is just like me.  The reason he says that all he wants to do is sit in the Temple entrance is because his life is also filled with ʿiṣṣābôn.  In fact, I’m guessing that half or more of his poems are born from discouragement, difficulties, or depression.  Maybe I like David because he’s so real about life.  No platitudes.  No excuses.  Just WYSIWYG.

That’s why Paul is so difficult.  He doesn’t seem like a real human being.  He’s all “spiritual” and “holy.”  Lord knows I’m not.  I’m like Peter, wavering, up then down, hard-charging and in full retreat.  But Peter is the one who says we have a duty to employ what God gives in the service of others.  He uses the Greek verb diakoneo, from which we get the idea of deacon, that is, one who serves.  It’s an odd word to use because it was an unwelcome idea in Greek culture.

For the Greeks service is undignified; we are born to rule, not to serve. Service acquires value only when it promotes individual development, or the development of the whole as service of the state (or ultimately as service of God). If this demands some renunciation, the idea of self-sacrificial service finds little place.^[1]

But Jews had a different perspective.

In Judaism, service is not thought to be unworthy; hence a deeper understanding of it develops. The LXX does not use diakoneín, but has leitourgeín, latreúein, and even douleúein. . . The commandment to love one’s neighbor offers a solid basis for sacrificial service, but in later Judaism tends to be weakened by the distinction between the righteous and the unrighteous and the construing of service as meritorious rather than sacrificial.^[2]

I realize the sacrificial service isn’t about merit, but I find it curious that the LXX doesn’t use the word Peter chooses.  Maybe that’s because Peter knows he’s writing to Gentiles, Greek Gentiles, and he needs to show the sharp contrast between the Greek view and the biblical view.  That reminds me that I am a Gentile.  I grew up in a Greco-Roman world.  I think diakoneo is sometimes like ʿiṣṣābôn.  Paradigm shift required—again.

Now I’ve written about it.  Today I’ve done my duty.  I feel better.  Really!  We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

Topical Index:  duty, ʿiṣṣābôn, toil, sorrow, diakoneo, to serve, 1 Peter 4:10

^[1] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (p. 152). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.

^[2] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (p. 153). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.