Written by Dynamis Ministries | June 16, 2022
Good work is a fruit of a healthy spiritual life. Whether we work in a job, as a full-time student, as a stay-at-home parent, as a super volunteer or as a caregiver for our grandchildren, most of our waking hours on this planet are consumed with this activity called work. 60-80% of our waking hours to be exact. It’s where we spend the most time and see the most people. Because of this, not only is how we work a vital part of our spiritual lives, it’s also our biggest opportunity to display generosity.
God is the one who instituted the idea of work. The creation of the heavens and the earth are the works of his hands. And even before sin entered the world, God asked Adam and Eve to work by caring for his creation. Work is not the result of sin. Throughout the story of God, work is a big reason we’re here. In the New Testament, we see many places where work is connected to our faith, whether it is in “good works” in response to salvation or in places like Colossians 3:23-24:
Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.
As Christians, we should always be working for the glory of God before any other motivation. We need to approach our jobs, tasks in school, homemaking and volunteering as opportunities to glorify God. When we work for the glory of God, not only do we find greater joy and meaning in our work as we are connected to God through it, but also, we can have a major impact on other people’s lives. We can be incredibly generous at work with our time, gifts and resources.
Too often our work is seen as a means to an end or a burden, but it doesn’t have to be that way. It can be a significant expression and experience in our spiritual life. So, we need to rethink our relationship to our work. Working for God’s glory is going to be a primary way that God’s kingdom gets extended in the future. One of the best arenas to evangelize, witness and model our faith is in our work. The workplace has always been a great mission field, but it’s going to increasingly become so in the days ahead.
This means that why we work and how we work must be connected to our call to “be generous.” Work is much more than the task of getting the job done, no matter what the workspace. It’s an opportunity to use our God-endowed talents to showcase God’s love for the world. Whatever your “work,” do you look at it this way? Too often, we expect to “get” at work whether it be money, status, respect, authority, recognition or fulfillment. What if we turned that upside down and expected to “give” at work?
This would be revolutionary.
Photo Credit: Mera Kist
