Think about your office right now. Could it actually be time for Jesus Christ to come to your work and workmates, bringing the hope and life that come along with the gospel that we profess?
Nowadays, work and the office are pretty much equated to stress and dullness. Companies hire experts to try to make office spaces more fun and lively, but what's actually happening is just a masking of the truth. There is very little to no sense of significance left in many offices.
But that's not the way God meant work to be. To God, work is purpose and to serve others is the greatest purpose we can serve. Jesus said in John 13:34, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." Yes, that command from our Lord is inclusive of people that are related to work.
Your co-workers, staff, clients, spectators and competition? They need the love of Christ too and God makes it clear that we are His salt and light to a dark world. (Matthew 15:36)
Work matters to God
Work matters to God because God is the author of work. When God put Adam in the garden of Eden, He put Him there to work on it and take care of it. God gives us work because He gives us an opportunity to play a part in His creation.
It's kind of like you enjoying watching your kids help out with washing the car -- they don't really contribute much but it makes them feel important. God wants us to feel important and significant and gives us an opportunity to be. That role you play at work is God's way of giving you an opportunity to take part.
Work was not meant to be a burden
Work today is viewed by many to be a necessary evil to earn a living, put food on the table and to survive. That's not how God wants work to be. Ecclesiastes 2:24 says, "There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God."
God meant for work to be good because His work is good. If work was supposed to be bad then Jesus would not have worked Himself. In fact, the greatest work of Christ -- that is His finished work on the cross -- assures us that because of what He has done, we can now do our jobs free from stress, worry, distraction and curses.
Sure, work can be tiring, but it was never meant to be a burden. God gives us work to be a blessing to others and to be blessed ourselves.
