Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:00 — 4.1MB)
PROGRAM D-7920
Work is a gift from God. For those of us who are Christ-followers, we will be blessed by working and doing the work he has given us to do.
There are days when I think it would be nice if I didn’t have work: if I didn’t have responsibilities, to-do lists, and people who were depending on me; if I could just do what I wanted to do every day. For a moment, it seems like a good idea! But then I say to myself, “Mary, if you didn’t have anything meaningful to do, how miserable would you be?” I remind myself that God has given me work to do, that I am so privileged to be a part of what God is doing, and how at-a-loss I would be if I didn’t have work to do each day.
The enemy of our souls, Satan, is a thief and a robber. He wants to rob us of the joy of work, and to make us dread it and try to escape it because that makes us unhappy and we can’t be an effective witness for Jesus if we’re unhappy doing what we’re doing. Note these verses from Ecclesiastes 3:12-13:
I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.
And Proverbs 14:23 reminds us that “All hard work brings a profit.”
Finding satisfaction in your work is a gift from God. Don’t let the enemy steal that from you. Determine by God’s grace that you will do what you do every day—no matter how small it may seem, how mundane, or how tiresome—to bring glory to your Savior, Jesus. You will honor him by working with your hands, your brain, and your energy—working with excellence because Jesus deserves your best. God created your work for you to do, and he wants you to rejoice in his gift of work to you. Today would be a good day to start doing that.