{"id":891,"date":"2009-10-22T08:35:37","date_gmt":"2009-10-22T08:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/2009\/10\/opus-magnum-1.html"},"modified":"2009-10-22T08:35:37","modified_gmt":"2009-10-22T08:35:37","slug":"opus-magnum-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2009\/10\/opus-magnum-1.html","title":{"rendered":"Opus Magnum"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Picture<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Weary, worn, welts on hand<\/p>\n

Work has whittled down the man<\/p>\n

To the bare necessities<\/p>\n

Of what he is, and what he’ll be<\/p>\n

Was this then his destiny?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Defined, refined by what we do,<\/p>\n

The toilsome tasks are never through<\/p>\n

Thorn and thistle, dirt and dust<\/p>\n

Sweeping clean, removing rust<\/p>\n

All to earn his upper crust?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sweat of brow, and carried weight<\/p>\n

Rose too early, slept too late<\/p>\n

Slaving, striving dawn to dusk<\/p>\n

Til the shell is barely husk<\/p>\n

Staunch the stench with smell of musk?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But work is not the curse or cure<\/p>\n

By which we’re healed, or will endure<\/p>\n

It will not save us in the end,<\/p>\n

It is no foe, but rather friend<\/p>\n

But while it molds us will we mend?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Task Master making all things new <\/p>\n

Who makes the most of what we do,<\/p>\n

Let our work an offering be<\/p>\n

A timely gift from those set free<\/p>\n

From earning our eternity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When work is mission on the move<\/p>\n

By those whose efforts serve to prove<\/p>\n

That nothing’s wasted in God’s hands<\/p>\n

When we respond to his commands<\/p>\n

Then we shall hear him say “well done”<\/p>\n

To those who worked under the Son.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Oct. 4, 2005<\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span>BW3<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Weary, worn, welts on hand Work has whittled down the man To the bare necessities Of what he is, and what he’ll be Was this then his destiny?   Defined, refined by what we do, The toilsome tasks are never through Thorn and thistle, dirt and dust Sweeping clean, removing rust All to earn his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nOpus Magnum - The Bible and Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2009\/10\/opus-magnum-1.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Opus Magnum - The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Weary, worn, welts on hand Work has whittled down the man To the bare necessities Of what he is, and what he’ll be Was this then his destiny?   Defined, refined by what we do, The toilsome tasks are never through Thorn and thistle, dirt and dust Sweeping clean, removing rust All to earn his…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2009\/10\/opus-magnum-1.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-10-22T08:35:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2009\/10\/Picture%20035-thumb-480x640-8543.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ben Witherington\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Opus Magnum - The Bible and Culture","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2009\/10\/opus-magnum-1.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Opus Magnum - The Bible and Culture","og_description":"Weary, worn, welts on hand Work has whittled down the man To the bare necessities Of what he is, and what he’ll be Was this then his destiny?   Defined, refined by what we do, The toilsome tasks are never through Thorn and thistle, dirt and dust Sweeping clean, removing rust All to earn his…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2009\/10\/opus-magnum-1.html","og_site_name":"The Bible and Culture","article_published_time":"2009-10-22T08:35:37+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2009\/10\/Picture%20035-thumb-480x640-8543.jpg"}],"author":"Ben Witherington","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2009\/10\/opus-magnum-1.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2009\/10\/opus-magnum-1.html","name":"Opus Magnum - The Bible and Culture","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2009\/10\/opus-magnum-1.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2009\/10\/opus-magnum-1.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2009\/10\/Picture%20035-thumb-480x640-8543.jpg","datePublished":"2009-10-22T08:35:37+00:00","dateModified":"2009-10-22T08:35:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/d1fd6c7893819eabc624db38ecfd8426"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2009\/10\/opus-magnum-1.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2009\/10\/opus-magnum-1.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2009\/10\/opus-magnum-1.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2009\/10\/Picture%20035-thumb-480x640-8543.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2009\/10\/Picture%20035-thumb-480x640-8543.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2009\/10\/opus-magnum-1.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Opus Magnum"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/","name":"The Bible and Culture","description":"All Things Biblical and Christian","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/d1fd6c7893819eabc624db38ecfd8426","name":"Ben Witherington","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/75e\/75ec11e1916a2008bc4cc638a0a0de2fx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/75e\/75ec11e1916a2008bc4cc638a0a0de2fx96.jpg","caption":"Ben Witherington"},"description":"Bible scholar Ben Witherington is Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary and on the doctoral faculty at St. Andrews University in Scotland. A graduate of UNC, Chapel Hill, he went on to receive the M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in England. He is now considered one of the top evangelical scholars in the world, and is an elected member of the prestigious SNTS, a society dedicated to New Testament studies. Witherington has also taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell. A popular lecturer, Witherington has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings not only in the United States but also in England, Estonia, Russia, Europe, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia. He has also led tours to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. Witherington has written over thirty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Beliefnet website. Along with many interviews on radio networks across the country, Witherington has been seen on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, A&E, and the PAX Network.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/author\/bwitherington"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}