Work, A Sacred Activity

Key Bible Verse: Don't just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God. (Colossians 3:23, The message) Dig

Deeper:Colossians 3:22-4:6

Work, whether it involves plumbing a sink or plumbing the depths of the cosmos, in the hands of a Christian is ministry. Work is an extension of Christ's ministry and the ministry he called his original disciples to do. This, of course, can involve a plethora of professions.

Of course, there are limits to what can be considered legitimate, ethical work or ministry. Ministering to prostitutes is legitimate; encouraging their profession is not. Helping people get out of debt by moral means is ministry; helping them make risky investments is not. Being a used car salesman can be a ministry; selling people things they do not need is not Christian work.

Work is not a secular activity; it is a sacred one ordained by God, and so it must be undertaken in holy ways. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with good, old-fashioned hard work, including manual labor. But whatever we do, we are to strive for excellence. The old saying goes that our Maker doesn't make any junk, and he likewise calls us to a high standard of excellence in what we produce.

—Ben Witherington III in Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor

My Response: Do I see work as a vocation "ordained by God"? If not, how might my attitude and even my job performance change if I did see it that way?

Thoughts to Apply:
Every calling is great when greatly pursued.—OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES (writer)

It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, but why he does it.—A. W. TOZER (pastor, preacher, writer)

Prayer:

Father in Heaven, may I strive to do my job with dignity and integrity; help me, most of all, to understand that my 'real work' here on earth is to be salt and light (Matt. 5:13-16) in all that I do. In Jesus’ Name – Amen.

Adapted from Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor (Eerdmans, 2011) by permission. All rights reserved by the copyright holder and/or the publisher. May not be reproduced.

Copyright © 2011 by Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.