Honorable Promotion

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(Proverbs 4:8)

"Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honor, when thou dost embrace her." Proverbs 4:8

Near the turn of the century in 1600, the highly regarded dramatist William Shakespeare completed the second Act of his pastoral comedy, As You Like It. After returning home from a key victory in the story, heroic Orlando encounters an old and faithful servant who tells him that being home is no longer a safe option. The old man offers Orlando his unflattering life-savings to elude any would-be captors and take to the road. Touched by the sentiment, the hero says, "O, good old man; how well in thee appears the constant service of the antique world, when service sweat for duty, not for meed [reward]! Thou art not for the fashion of these times, where none will sweat but for promotion." Orlando recognized that it was a rare thing for a man to give of himself if it meant absolutely nothing for him in return.

One of the most common questions we hear at work is, "What do you do when you're not here?" In other words, what do you do for fun? The implication, of course, is that the only time someone would work is if they're getting paid for it. Hence, in our spare time, it seems almost a given that the answer would be anything from golf, fishing, surfing, jogging and swimming to video games and movies. Comedian Steven Wright is known for the one liner: "In my spare time, I like to waste time." The ultimate joke is that the moment we are not required to do anything, we'll do absolutely nothing. Our spare time, therefore, is wasted time.

Perhaps the most unfortunate conclusion we often draw about each other is based on what we cannot see. We assume that if a student is no longer in class, they must be watching movies. If an employee is no longer at work, they must be sleeping. If our boss is not around on a given day, he or she must be out playing golf. But what of the possibility that a man or woman has given of their spare time to the quiet reading and study of Scripture? What of they who lose sleep serving a ministry where no one is witness? What of the woman who takes her Friday evening to touch the life of a dying friend for the gospel? These "spare" moments are often far more powerful than any that are witnessed in the public eye.

Among the wisest people that we know in our lives (by that I do not mean the most knowledgeable), there tends to be a pattern of quiet humility. The wise man is not quick to speak, nor is he eager to be regarded. He knows that he has found wisdom, but will never acknowledge such a fact publically or he may well lose the "promotion" that wisdom provided. These men and women of wisdom that we encounter are far more private people than we wish them to be, but they have found a most worthy secret.

When no one is looking…when the last visible worker has gone home… when spare time is every man's vanity… this is when the wise become wiser. For it is in the absence of the public eye that these individuals exalt wisdom to embrace her. They do not need the promotion of men who praise them, for they have found the honorable promotion of God who humbles them.