When Work Feels Like Work – Week Two

Last week we started our series about work, considering what we do when our work feels like, well – just work. The truth is, not every day leaves us feeling excited or satisfied. In fact, some days, work can feel mundane, exhausting, and overwhelming. 

In reading Timothy Keller and Katherine Leary Alsdorf’s book Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work, I have been challenged to consider my own view of work and the practical way that belief impacts my day to day decisions and attitudes. 

The first principle related to work we explored was that work is not a result of sin; it is part of God’s original design. From the creation account in Genesis one forward, we understand God is a worker and created us to work. Today, we will explore a second principle – work is not just something we have to do to survive; work provides meaning and purpose to our lives.

Work is a privilege and a gift. In fact, without work, our life will lack meaning and purpose. As Timothy Keller puts it, “work is not all there is to life. You will not have a meaningful life without work, but you cannot say your work is the meaning of your life.” 

Ultimately our purpose comes from God. When God created each person, He did so with intentionality. Where you were born, who your parents are, and what you look like is not an accident. In a speech to the religious philosophers in Athens recorded in Acts 17, Paul emphasizes God’s design by explaining:

• God is not dependent on humankind, but rather He is the source of everything we need – breath, life, and all other things.
• God determined the appointed time and place every person inhabits.
• God desires for every person to seek Him, and He is not far away from any one of us.
• In God, we live and move and exist.

God designed you and placed you right where you are. As Pastor Chris Hodges says, “God designed you on purpose, for a purpose.” We learn in Ephesians 2:10 that part of this intentionality includes God preparing good works for each of us to walk in. In other words, part of your opportunity in this life is to live out the purpose God designed for you in advance. 

It is important to note that these words are not only for the spiritually elite or enlightened ones. No, instead, they are for everyone. Right where you are, today, you can live out God’s purpose. And one of the best ways to do that is by working hard and working well. 

Speaking to slaves, Paul commanded, “whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” (Colossians 3:23-24 NIV) 

From these verses, we understand that any job, not just the glamorous one or the high-paying position or the ministry role, can be done for God’s glory. Every task we do has an eternal purpose because work is a way we serve our God.

Listen to the advice Paul gives to a person caught up in the cycle of stealing, “He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with the one who has need.” (Ephesians 4:28) Breaking the pattern of sin is directly connected to working with one’s hands. 

Like the person here who was stealing, we can find ourselves stuck. Sometimes we are caught in an unhealthy habit or addiction. Other times we a drifting, depressed, or discouraged. Whatever the cause of our “stuckness,” a healthy dose of work just might be part of the solution. 

Consider what is in your hands or what should be in your hands. Are you making yourself useful? Are you positively impacting the lives of those around you, as Paul advises? 

Most of us have the opportunity to work at least five days a week (if you don’t count the work we do outside of “work”). What if all that work is a gift? What is work is not just something we have to do to survive, but it provides meaning and purpose to our lives? How could that impact the way you approach your life and work?