Work. Most of us spend over half our lives at work. Whatever it is that you fill 9 to 5 with — planting crops, building cars, taking care of patients, teaching students, or running a business — work is where most of life happens. For some, work is a drain. They dread Monday mornings; forcing themselves to struggle through because they need the paycheck; or many times feeling trapped or beaten down by their jobs.
Some people love their work. They are good at what they do. It energizes them. It’s a place of security, a place to chase dreams, desires and success. At work, they find fulfilment.
We often forget to connect our faith to our work. We don’t consider the reasons God may have us at our job. We don’t think about the purpose and meaning we could bring to our work. We simply focus on how it makes us feel.
But what if we saw our work as an opportunity to worship? As Christians, we are called to serve Christ with our lives. For a few, that means working as a pastor, a youth minister, or a missionary. Others serve the church by teaching children and singing in the choir. But when Sunday is over, most of us return to our jobs outside of church.
For us, our mission is in the marketplace. We may not be the kind of missionaries who move to the far regions of Africa. But around the conference table, around the water cooler, or around the cubicle, we have an opportunity to worship the God who created us.
He gave us skill. He gave us passion. He gave us work. When we do our jobs with excellence, integrity, and diligence, it’s an act of worship. We are displaying God’s craftsmanship to the non-believing world around us. We are earning the right to be heard.
We don’t see a divide between Sunday and Monday, between the sacred and the secular. We’ve been invited to the parts of the world that pastors or traditional missionaries will never see. We have conversations with people who would never set foot in a church.
Whether we love or dread our work, we choose to turn the focus away from ourselves and towards the mission God has for us. Church is not the only place we worship. And Sunday is not the only day that in our calendar that has meaning. Everyday our mission for God brings us great joy.
Like the heroes before us, we can be modern day Noahs, Josephs, and Peters, who are called for a purpose. God has designed us. He created us to work, and to worship. For us, work is worship.
Original Video:
Work as Worship by RightNow Ministries