When Monday morning rolls around, do you say, “Good morning, Lord” or “Good Lord, is it morning?”
So many people today think of work as the wrong kind of four-letter word. But for followers of Jesus Christ, there can be joy and dignity in the most mundane jobs. You can turn monotony into significance when you see your job through God’s eyes.
Adults spend about one-third to almost half of our lives on the job. Wouldn’t it be a shame to spend that much time with something we feel in our hearts doesn’t amount to much or something we actually despise? This is especially true if you have what you call “an ordinary job”—“I'm just a clerk…just a factory worker.” You may be saying, “I didn’t make Who’s Who; I didn’t even make Who’s Not.”
God’s plan is to take ordinary people and put them in ordinary places with ordinary jobs and get extraordinary glory for Himself. God can make you a thing of beauty and joy to Himself, right there in what you may consider your “mundane” workplace.
Career Counseling—from Above
In Ephesians 6:5-8, God gives us career principles. Consider them guidelines to serve you well throughout your life and career:
Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.
Serve your boss as if he were Jesus. Treat him as if he were Jesus. You’re not going to work tomorrow for your boss; you’re going to work for Jesus Christ. Whatever you do, do it as to the Lord, not to men.
Three Helpful Principles:
1. See your job as an opportunity and be grateful.
“My job?” you say. “I'm bored to tears. It’s the same old grind and drudgery. I'm just drawing my breath and drawing my salary.” If you have a job, be grateful. It is a God-given opportunity, a loving gift from God.
And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality. (Colossians 3:23-25)
2. See your job as a responsibility and be helpful.
The Lord Jesus was a carpenter. He knew what it was to work. Your job is really a partnership with God, regardless of where you work. Work is not a punishment from God. Some people think, “If we got back to the Garden of Eden, we wouldn’t have any work to do.” You’d be wrong. Work did not come as a punishment for sin. Toil and sweat came as a punishment for sin, not work in itself.
Don’t think your job is not important. If you work in a factory, you’re working for God. If you work in an office, you’re working for God. Any work done for God is the work of God, is it not?
…let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need (Ephesians 4:28).
You work to meet your needs and the needs of other people.
3. See your job as a ministry and be faithful.
“…as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men” (Ephesians 6:6-7).
Could it be any plainer? You’re not going to work for FedEx, Kellogg’s or Charlie’s Market, but for Jesus Christ. You’re serving God. Every day is a holy day. Every place is a sacred place. Every duty is a divine duty. “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
You are the light of the world, the salt of the earth. Where is your light to shine?
… in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world… (Philippians 2:15)
Go there and serve God! That’s where the salt is needed. Tomorrow morning when you go to work, get up and say, “Lord Jesus, I’m willing to endure drudgery for You. Good morning, Lord. Here I am, in fulltime ministry and I’m going off to serve my Lord and Savior.”
