Is My Work Like Worship?
Whatever you do, work with all your heart, as working
for the Lord, not for human masters. Colossians
3:23 (NIV)
A deacon whose faith had been revitalized
during a Sunday night evangelistic service came to the priest to tell him he
was now ready to live for Jesus and available for service. The priest prayed
with him, thanked him, and assured him that he would be called upon. Later that
same night a widowed mother in the church called the minister and said she was
desperate for a ride for her young son to the hospital the next day for a long
scheduled appointment with a specialist doctor. The hospital was 50 miles away
in the city. Smiling to himself at the seemingly providential provision of God,
the minister called the deacon and asked him to take this task. At first the
deacon protested that he would have to take a half day off of work, but
relented under the minister’s gentle reminder that he had said he was available
for service.
So the deacon arranged the time off work
and went to the woman’s house the next morning. The mother was unable to go
because of her other children, so he carried the little boy and took him in his
car. When they had driven awhile, the boy said, “You’re God, aren’t you?” The
deacon said. “No, of course not. Why would you say that?” The boy sad, “Last
night I heard my mother crying and praying to God to send someone to take me to
the hospital. I thought you must be God.” The boy was quiet for a minute, and
then he said, “If you’re not God, you work for him, don’t you?”
The deacon paused and with tears in his
eyes and a thrill in his heart, said, “Now more than ever, son. Now more than
ever.”
The Christian life should be one that
strikingly stands out and is noticeably different in the world. Christians should
exemplify enthusiasm, demonstrate diligence, and personify perseverance in all
they endeavor to do. No one goes into work asking, “Do you have something for
me to do that no one else wants to do?” Yet, as Christians, the way we go about
completing our responsibilities and working on those chores says a lot about
our understanding of who we are working for.
Paul was writing during a time when
slavery was widespread, with an estimated sixty million slaves. Work for most
was unpleasant, tasks were tedious, and errands were unexciting. Paul wanted to
bring hope to those Christian slaves who felt that their situation was
hopeless, their work did not matter, and they were insignificant. Paul supplied
the slaves with a glimmer of hope as He gave them a glimpse of glory by
awakening their awareness to the fact that no matter who their boss was on
earth, and no matter what their work situation was, ultimately they worked for
God.
Chores and responsibilities take on a
whole new meaning when we realize that no matter what we are doing, we are
working for God. Whether we have, a dream job or a dead-end job, whether we are
washing dishes, changing diapers, or running a million-dollar company, I
believe God sees our labor. He will reward us, not based on the position we
hold but on the position of our heart toward the work God has set before you to
do. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. captured the heart of this truth best when he
observed, “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets
even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote
poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth
will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper that did his job well.”
God sees all, knows all, and is over all,
which means that whether we are doing odd jobs, everyday jobs, or household
jobs, no matter the job, the chore, or the task, we should seek to honor God in
all our efforts as we do our work willingly, eagerly, gratefully, and
wholeheartedly for the glory of God. Let us turn our work into worship as we do
all things willingly as unto the Lord.
No comments:
Post a Comment