Are You Happy With Your Job?
Our God is a worker-God. In the beginning, he worked. He created. We work because of how God worked. He created us to image him, and one of the ways that we image him is that we work like him. We create out of his creation. How amazing is that?!? Whenever you do work you’re not just checking tasks of your to do list and getting that green, you’re imaging God! Unfortunately, we collectively messed that up when we rebelled against God. The first man, Adam, didn’t work well to take care of the garden God put him in. He let a snake in. He should have killed that snake. Man’s sin led to work being cursed. We’re going to struggle to find joy in work now. We’re going to be tempted to idolize work and find our identity in it now. But thankfully God didn’t destroy work. He still lets us image him. And even better, God sent a better worker than man into the world to transform how we work. Jesus did what Adam didn’t do: Jesus worked well to defeat the enemy. Jesus came to save from every curse of the fall, and one of those curses was on work. He came to save us from meaningless, joyless work; to save us from idolizing work. He came to free us so that we can enjoy our work.
Are you enjoying the work that you do? Whether it’s in an office or in your home, as an employee or a boss, creating spreadsheets or pizzas, do you enjoy your work? You can. If you’ve given your life to Jesus and follow him, you get to! Here are some promises that God gave us that make it possible for us to enjoy our work:
YOUR WORK BLESSES OTHERS
Ephesians 4:28 says, “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” As a follower of Jesus, you now work so that you can bless other people. You can be a blessing, an encouragement, a source of joy to other people because you work hard and make money. Your work isn’t just about you and your joy, it’s about other’s joy as well. When you have to do the terrible job at work that no one else wants, you’re getting paid to do that so that when your brother or sister in the church is in need, you can bless them. That actually should make us want to work more so that we can bless more people.
YOUR WORK LEADS TO PRAISE
Matthew 5:16 says, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” This is the ultimate way you could bless other people. By the way you work, by how you approach work, other people could see how different you are and end up believing in God because of it. They’ll just see something different, something transformed. This might not mean that your work is perfect, but it will probably have to do with your attitude as you work. Your work can lead to people praising God.
YOUR WORK IS VALUABLE TO GOD
1 Corinthians 15:58 says, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” If you’re a follower of Jesus, God has promised you that your work is not in vain, it’s not meaningless. Your work is valuable to God. He sees it. He sees the small, menial tasks you do. He sees when you don’t cut corners. He sees when you stay until you’re supposed to. The way you work actually has value and worth to the God who created the universe.
GOD IS WITH YOU IN YOUR WORK
1 Corinthians 7:24 says, “So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, let him there remain with God.” Whatever situation you’ve called into, whatever work God had given you to do: changing diapers, answering phones, managing money, starting a business, remain there with God. The greatest joy about your job is that you get to do it with God. Jesus came to us, into our world, and he worked as a carpenter for years and years. He knows what it’s like to sweat and work. The Savior who knows what hard work is like has promised to be with you in your work. He’s with you every day.
GOD GIVES YOU THE STRENGTH YOU NEED TO WORK
1 Peter 4:11 says, “whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies.” and 1 Corinthians 15:10 Paul says, “I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” God’s promised to give you the strength you need to do the work he’s called you to do. God isn’t calling you into failure. He’s called you to do the work that he’s promised to strengthen you to do. The problem is that most of us want to do it all in our own strength. We don’t pray and ask God for strength. We don’t depend on him or bring him into our work in any way. And so we burn out and live in continual exhaustion.
GOD PROMISES REST IN YOUR WORK
Matthew 11:28 says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” God promises rest in your work. We can rest knowing that our identity doesn’t come from our work. We can rest knowing that we don’t earn favor with God because of our work. We can rest knowing that our work doesn’t get us to heaven. We can rest knowing that it’s God who provides everything and not just our own work. One pastor said, “if you’re not taking one whole day to rest from work, you’re telling everyone that you don’t believe that God is taking care of your life.” God’s design isn’t that we idolize work. He wants to give us rest from work. Rest in him.
You work as a spouse, a parent, a neighbor, and a citizen. You work at your job. You work at your hobbies as a musician, and artist, or an athlete. Many of you work in the church. You have many vocations where God has called you to work, and you’re called to do all of that work as a Jesus follower; someone who’s being transformed by Jesus. Let’s work differently. Let’s have joy as we work, because we’re imaging God in our work.