Constructive Positive Work
Constructive Positive Work
The majority of people, if they fall into a problem, or find some kind of loss or corruption, either they weep and lament because of that matter, or they curse and abuse and publicize what happened to them. But weeping over mistakes does not correct them, nor does publicity change them. Correction comes only by positive work, and here I recall that famous Chinese proverb that says:
(Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle.)
The book of Genesis says, “In the beginning… the earth was formless and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep” (Gen. 1:1–2). Here the Lord did not speak against the darkness. Rather He said, “Let there be light,” and there was light (Gen. 1:3). This is the positive work that we want.
At one time the state of the Church was weak. Other denominations had penetrated the Church during the British occupation, in the days of Khedive Ismail who wanted Cairo to be part of France and brought the French to work in the country; they had their religious influence, and the Church became weak. Then a strong young cleric appeared — Archdeacon Habib Girgis. He did not weep over the state of the Church; rather he established Sunday Schools and worked to strengthen the Theological Seminary, and he was one of its first graduates and began to teach. The Sunday Schools became famous and spread everywhere. He himself held a meeting for the servants at the Great Mar Girgis Church, which Pope Kyrillos sometimes attended and blessed with the cross while he spoke. By this constructive work, servants could exist in the Church, and from the seminary he created another generation of servants… and he was light.
We learned constructive positive work from the Lord Christ Himself, glory to Him: when He met the Samaritan woman He did not rebuke her for her sins, although her life was very bad with five men. Rather He spoke to her about the living water which whoever drinks of it will never thirst, and He spoke to her about worshiping God in spirit and truth (John 4). By this positive method He was able to draw her to Him, and she became a preacher in His name throughout her city.
The same method (constructive positive work) the Lord used with a man who greatly troubled the Church, whose name was Saul of Tarsus. He used to take letters from the chief priests and drag men and women into prison. People perhaps complained about him and prayed to God to save them from this Tarsian, so the Lord saw in that person a marvelous energy He could use instead in persecuting the Church. He used that energy (by constructive positive work) to make it an energy for building. Thus He transformed him from a persecutor of the Church into an apostle: all his energies were used in spreading the preaching and the word and the faith.
The same constructive work the Lord used with Zacchaeus the tax collector. Tax collectors in general were unjust and oppressive people who collected money from people unlawfully. Zacchaeus was prominent among the tax collectors. The Lord did not rebuke him for his oppressive life or his injustice to others or his other negatives. Rather He said to him, “Today I must stay at your house.” When the Jews complained about the Lord entering the house of a wicked man like Zacchaeus, the Lord answered them: “Today salvation has come to this house, for he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:9–10).
By this practical constructive method Zacchaeus repented and said to the Lord: “Behold, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone I restore fourfold.” (Luke 19:8).
In the same way the Lord dealt with many tax collectors and sinners, and He sat and ate with them. When the Jews grumbled at Him: how does He sit with sinners?! He answered: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” (Mark 2:17). By this constructive positive work He won their souls, to the extent that He chose a tax collector—Matthew—to become one of His twelve apostles.
The Lord did not focus on negatives. He did not rebuke those tax collectors; rather He had compassion on them, and He said to those around Him: the Son of Man did not come to destroy men but to save them.
This is an example the Lord set for us to walk as He walked. In His parables He also said that a field was sown with wheat, and then the enemy came and sowed tares among it. When the crop sprang up they found tares growing among the wheat, and it was said to the owner of the field: do you want us to gather these tares? He said to them: leave them both to grow together until the day of harvest (Matt. 13:30). Notice that up to this day the wicked still live beside the righteous until the day of harvest. The Lord showed us that our work is to sow the wheat, not to uproot the tares.
And from within the Church, when the Lord saw that the priesthood in His days had become corrupt, He began constructive positive work in forming a new priesthood by a true royal rite. He chose the twelve apostles to be that new priesthood. From the beginning the Lord’s policy was such: when He found the world corrupt He formed a new world through Noah and his sons… and when many of Noah’s descendants became corrupt He formed a new people and household for Himself—the household of our father Abraham. Then He specialized further in building by forming for Himself a people from the seed of our father Jacob. Finally, in the days of His incarnation He formed a group of twelve, then of seventy, and this was His constructive work.
Constructive positive work is what yields a good result; but if one acts with negativity he will only tire himself and others… he will strain his nerves, waste his time, and collide with others. He may achieve no result. Oh that every person would care for building. Destruction is easy, but building is difficult. For a person to build a great structure he labors and waits to lay the foundation, and then he builds and needs a great number of workers. Destruction, however, is very easy: one bomb can demolish the whole building. Destruction then is an easy process that any weak person can do, whereas building is a strong work done by people of talents.
So do not expend all your effort on negatives that make your life wars and toil. The priest who uses negativity in the Church will have conflict with the church board, conflict with those handling finances, conflict with the servants. By negative work he will tire himself and others; but by constructive positive work he rejoices and brings joy to others.
Regarding fighting errors by negative means, I remember when I was a young student at university one of my classmates was addicted to smoking. I advised him: my dear, cigarettes harm you, ruin your health, waste your money, and harm those around you; you must quit them. He said to me: (All the talk you tell me I know better than you because I have experimented with it myself. The important thing is: what is the positive method by which I can get rid of the habit of smoking?!).
This classmate’s words were true, and we still fight addiction, alcohol, and cigarettes. All these are negatives, but the positive work is: how do we help the person to get rid of addiction?
Unemployment, for example:
How many have attacked unemployment and its results. A person graduates from university and finds no job. Because of unemployment he cannot have a home and cannot marry. Through this unemployment morals may be corrupted and fornication may exist hidden under the name of customary marriage! All this we say from the negative side. But from the positive work side, how do we overcome unemployment, despite the fact that the population grows day by day?!
China, for example, whose population exceeds one billion, managed to overcome unemployment and found work for every person. Industrial production increased there, and you may ask how they can market this huge volume of production?
They cared for marketing before manufacturing. They found that Christian countries need crosses and icons, so they manufactured them. They found that Islamic countries need Ramadan lanterns, so they manufactured them, and prayer rugs for prayer. They found that America needs cars, so they manufactured them. Because of large production the prices became cheap and marketing improved. But with us every person wants to sit in an office and be a manager, give orders and cancel orders! You tell him work in a reasonable matter. He tells you the reasonable thing is that I be a manager and head of an office and give orders and cancel orders! As a result graduates become jobless and unable to marry.
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