Everyone has to work. There is no such thing as all play with no work. Just as we must eat and breathe, we must work. Work is a venue God has chosen to give us provision and bless us. We must work to live. It’s the way God has set his economy for us. We spend a third of our life in school in preparation for a dream job! But in fact, as we prepare for a job, unbeknownst to us, we work... as a student. We spend a tremendous amount of time at work. Do you love your work? Or do you hate your work?
According to the Center for American Progress, “in 1960, only 20% of mothers worked. Today, 70% of American children live in households where all adults are employed.”
In another study, the National Sleep Foundation found that the average employed American works a 46 hour work week; 38% of the respondents in their study worked more than 50 hours per week.
We spend a whole lot of time at work. I hope you love your work!
But regardless of your attitude towards work, the meaning behind work for a Christian is quite different from the meaning of work for a person who has not received Jesus as their Lord and Savior. In Genesis, God created Adam and Eve, and gave them work -- to tend the garden to make it as it ought to be. Work is more than a paycheck. Work is the means God has given us to care, serve, love, encourage and provide by expanding our energies. We aren't after money; we’re after the pleasure and the joy of God!
While not all of us will have our dream job, in fact some of us may hate our current job, God says in Colossians to see work as an act of thankful worship -- bringing glory and honor to Jesus as we express our attitudes, words, and work ethic in the world.
Colossians 3:17 | “...and whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all int he name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
Do you love the work you did today or do you resent it? Why do you love it? Why do you resent it? Are you missing the preciousness and meaning behind your work because of attitudes in our own heart?
Friends, God is inviting us to see work differently. Some of your work provides service for people and some of your work exists to provide enrich lives in other ways. Let us ask God to give us new eyes to see our work from God’s perspective. Let us receive work as an expression of our worship.
“The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same times calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the blessed sacrament [communion].” ~ Brother Lawrence
Brother Lawrence is inviting all of us who are in Christ, to give all fragments of our work day into one holy act of worship. He calls us to see our work as a privilege rather than a burden. Have a blessed week.
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