British Airways is now asking its staff to work for free!
It is asking thousands of its staff workers to take up to a month of unpaid leave. Nothing unusual about this. But here is the twist. The airline says those who take unpaid leave can have the option to return to work, but without pay. In other words, work for free.
Will people do so? The unions don’t think so. But some people believe that in today’s uncertain job situation, some workers may voluntarily work for free in order to protect their employment.
There is an interesting situation described in the Bible. It is not directly comparable to the British Airways situation, but there are some similarities. Isaiah describes this situation for us.
In that day seven women will take hold of one man and say, “We will eat our own food and provide our own clothes; only let us be called by your name. Take away our disgrace!” (Isa 4:1).
Read in isolation, this looks like a man’s dream – 7 women for every 1 man! Moreover, all these women want to be married to this 1 man. We could say that the competition is rather intense and fierce. Here these women are willing to get hitched for free. The happy man does not need to provide basic necessities like food and clothing for these women. All they want in return is simply the right to be called Mrs Somebody. Failure to be called this way is considered a disgrace to the woman concerned.
But is this verse referring to a future state of utopia on earth? Not so. The woman who wants to get married is really looking to be a bride. In the Bible, the Church is described as the Bride. And the Church of course is not the brick and morter structure, but the people of God. The Bridegroom is the Lord Jesus Christ. This verse is describing a period when people want to be the bride of Christ, but with a twist – they want to be married on their own terms.
The Lord Jesus Christ is described in the Bible as the Bread of Life, but these people do not want this Bread. They prefer to find eternal life on their own merits, in their own way.
Also, the Lord Jesus Christ provides us with a cloak of righteousness. But these people prefer to have a righteousness of their own imagination.
All they want is to be known by Christ’s name – in other word, to be called “Christian”. Apparently it is fashionable to be so labelled. But these are “Christians” in name only, and their very actions expose them as really, non-Christians. For if they do not want to take hold of Christ’s righteousness nor do they want to depend on the Lord Jesus Christ as the way to eternal life in heaven, then they are certainly not disciples of the Lord.
Are you like these women?
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