Do you enjoy what you do?
If you’re like me, the answer is “sometimes.” Other times, not so much.
The Word has a lot to say about work and how the Lord views it.
Here are a few of those verses:
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23-24, NIV
Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. 1 Peter 1:17, NIV
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10, NIV
We all have a lot of work to do. It can often seem like a never-ending to-do list that looms in our thoughts, but I don’t think God intended it to be that way.
Recently, I heard a comment that went something like this:
There is the work of work, then there is the pleasure of work. I need someone who knows the pleasure of work.
God shone His spotlight on this comment for me. I don’t always know the pleasure of work. I am a hard worker, but I often don’t enjoy myself while I’m doing it. (Yes, it’s time for true confessions this morning…please love me anyway!)
Let me define pleasure for us: “a feeling of happy satisfaction and enjoyment” {from Oxford American Dictionaries}
Don’t get me wrong…I enjoy the satisfaction of a job well done. I love the end result and I usually have a good attitude on the exterior in the midst of the work. However, there’s something inside of me that chafes against some of the work while I’m doing it and I don’t like feeling that way!
I have been seeking the Lord about this, asking Him to show me what He thinks about work, so I can renew my mind and allow Him to change my heart, so that the inside matches the outside. I want to know the pleasure of work!
The answer to my request hasn’t come as a fire-hose blast of revelation, but like the gentle trickle of the soaker hose in my garden. I think that’s because my Daddy knows that’s how I can best handle this information and change…it’s seeping into me and I’m just soaking it all in, allowing it to permeate my thoughts and saturate my soul.
For me, the take-away, apply-to-my-life-now points are these:
- My work isn’t for man (or woman or child), but it is for JESUS.
- I should work with all of my heart…give it my best effort mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
- God will judge my work here on earth. It’s not a prerequisite for salvation, but He will look at what I’ve done and the attitude I’ve had while doing it.
- God created me to work (He worked first!). He planned my work ahead of time…kind of like a heavenly to-do list that isn’t heavy or burdensome, but created especially for me by the One who knows me best.
Then, God wrapped it all up for me in this verse:
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. 1 Peter 1:22
I have to purify myself by obeying the truth found in these verses about work…it will result in sincere, deep love for others.
And that is where the true pleasure comes in!
Praying for all of us to find the pleasure of the work God has prepared for us to do,
Rebecca
image via pinterest
