Working for God by Suresh Joel

One look at popular media and the people around and you will realize how resentful people are towards their boss and work in general. Either this or there is another extreme: Workaholics whose life revolves around work. Genesis 2:15 tells us that God intended man to work when He put him in the garden of Eden. Colossians 3:23 tells us how our approach to work should be, that is, work heartily as if working for God. Ephesians 6:5-8 elaborates this further and again mentions the word heart twice. Essentially, work is a heart issue and our heart should be set on serving the Lord through our work as He is one from whom our reward comes. As Christians, work is for us another way to worship God. We need to rethink how we work:

• Do we sincerely obey/respect our boss even if the boss's personality is not to our liking?
• Do we work wholeheartedly despite disagreements with the boss?
• Do we spend time on Facebook, gossip, long lunch breaks?

The main reasons people work is: Supply: Psalms 36:7-9 tells us that God supplies for us out of His steadfast love. But we want the job to supply not just our needs but our wants. Let us remember that even if we lose our jobs, it is God who will continue to provide (see Matthew 6:28-29). It is God's grace alone and not our talents that we have our job and positions when other more talented people are unemployed. Significance: It is difficult to define or introduce yourself without describing what you work as. Often, this is the conversation starter. We assign value to people based on their economic contribution to society. Work becomes so important to our identity that we sacrifice our life at the altar of work. Let us try to define our identity as a friend, brother, father, and so on rather than tie it only to work. Look to Deuteronomy 7:6-8 to know your real identity and importance. Security: Bank balance and investments lull us into a false sense of security that can come crashing down with the stock market. Our we trusting God to provide or the money in the bank? Hebrews 13:5-6 should be enough to quieten our insecurities about the future. The almighty will be there in our future and will never abandon us. To conclude, we should work to use our time wisely, follow God's plan for us to work (1 Thessalonians 3:11 and 4:11), to stay away from evil arising out of idleness, to get a channel through which God can provide (1 Thessalonians 3:10), to reveal God's power and glory and bring His kingdom on earth (Colossians 3:23-24), and to be able to give (Acts 20:35, 1 Corinthians 16:2, and Hebrews 13:6). But this is easier said than done because it will take a lot of time to undo what culture and parents have taught us all these years.

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Reflection by Shubha Jha