It’s Monday! For many of us, that means back to work.
I’ve learned that if I don’t enjoy working, I won’t enjoy much of life . . . since most of life is work.
I love Jesus. I love to worship Him. I love being in His Presence. Here is some good news about our work. Our work is an opportunity to worship; all our little tasks and to-dos are opportunities to serve Christ.
If we limit or equate worship with raising our hands, singing, dancing or other church-related activities, we will miss many opportunities to worship.
Today, I want to choose wisely what perspective and heart-attitude I will work from. I want to meditate on the truth that I am actually serving Christ, not just man. What a joy to serve the One we love and adore, to have the opportunity to minister to Him and worship Him while doing whatever the day’s tasks may entail.
Here are two qualities of work and some of my favourite Scriptures that I regularly visit to pull me out of an “I-dread” mindset, to a wholehearted mindset:
1. Work is an opportunity to worship.
Work done with an attitude that pleases God and a heart set on serving Him and His people is an offering to Him, a gift we give Him. For Jesus lovers, an opportunity to worship and serve God is wind in our sails. Worship turns insignificant moments and jobs into opportunities to bless and serve Christ.
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. (Rom 12:1 MSG)
The King will answer and say to them, ‘I assure you and most solemnly say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it for Me.’ (Matt 25:40 AMP)
2. Our work will be rewarded.
Be strong, therefore, and let not your hands be weak and slack, for your work shall be rewarded. (2 Chron 15:7 AMP)
I replied, ‘But my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose. Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand; I will trust God for my reward.' (Isa 49:4 NLT)
Whatever you do, put your whole heart and soul into it, as into work done for God, and not merely for men—knowing that your real reward, a heavenly one, will come from God, since you are actually employed by Christ. (Col 3:23-24 PHILLIPS)
‘Since you are actually employed by Christ' is really good news for anyone who has a tough boss or fellow-employees who mistreat you. We are working for Christ, we report to Him, and we are accountable to Him only for our actions and reactions, not others’.
In light of serving Christ, here are five ways we can engage in God-honouring work:
Work wholeheartedly. ‘Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people' (Eph 6:7 NIV).
Work without complaining. ‘Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticise you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people' (Phil 2:14 NLT).
Work with thanksgiving. ‘Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way' (Col 3:17 MSG).
Work with your best effort. ‘Do your best in the job you received from the Master. Do your very best' (Col 4:17 MSG). ‘Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you are serving is Christ' (Col 3:22,23 MSG).
Work as representing Christ to those around you. ‘And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father' (Col 3:17 NLT).