Honor God in your work
by Max Lucado
The celestial calendar has seven Sundays per week. God sanctifies each day. He conducts holy affairs at all times and in all places. He has a habit of turning kitchen sinks into sanctuaries, cafes into nunneries, and nine-to-five workdays into spiritual adventures.
Working days? Yes, on working days. He has ordained your work as something good. Before giving Adam a wife or a child, even before giving Adam britches, God gave Adam a job. “Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15 NASB). Innocence, not indolence, characterizes the first family.
God sees work worthy of his own engraved commandment: “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest” (Exod. 34:21 NASB). We love the second half of this verse. But insisting on the day of rest can cause us to miss the order to work: “You will work six days.” Whether you work at home or in the market, your work matters to God.
And your work matters to society. We need you! Cities need plumbers. Nations need soldiers. Stoplights pause. Bones break. We need people to fix the former and fix the latter. Someone has to raise kids, raise canes, and manage the kids raising Cain.
Whether you log in or go about your day, you are imitating God. Jehovah himself worked during the first six days of creation. Jesus said: “My Father never stops working, so I also continue to work” (John 5:17 NCV). Your career consumes half of your life. Shouldn’t he broadcast God? Don’t these forty to sixty hours a week belong to him either?
THE Bible never promotes workaholism or an addiction to employment as pain medication. But God unilaterally calls all those physically able to cultivate the gardens he gives. God honors work. So honor God in your work. “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and say that his work is good” (Eccles. 2:24 NASB).
Here’s the big idea:
Use your uniqueness (what you do)
make a big deal with God (why you do it)
every day of your life (where you do it).
At the convergence of all three, you will find the cure to common living: your sweet spot.
Of Cure for the Common Life: Living in Your Crisis Zone
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2005) Max Lucado
Listen UpWords with Max Lucado on OnePlace.com and find resources on MaxLucado.com
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