Did you know that we are commanded by God to work? Paul tells us that "if anyone isn't willing to work, he should not eat" (2 Thessalonians 3:10). In fact, it was God's will for Adam's life in the garden of Eden for Adam to work and watch over it (Genesis 2:15). It is even widely accepted that there will be work for us to do in heaven. Jesus often uses work as a word picture to describe the Kingdom of God.
God doesn't just care if we have work to do, He also cares about how we do it. Colossians 3:23 says "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." God would not tell us to do something with all of our hearts if it was not significant to Him. Through work God gives us the opportunity to worship and glorify Him.
We should not be feeling as though our time spent at our job is holding us back from fully living our life to worship Christ, but we should view work as an additional front in the battle to glorify God in the world.
We should not be feeling as though our time spent at our job is holding us back from fully living our life to worship Christ, but we should view work as an additional front in the battle to glorify God in the world. There are unlimited opportunities to worship Christ in what we say and do in our daily work interactions. In many vocations today we are spending 40-50 hours a week interacting with our co-workers, the majority of whom may not know Christ. This is likely more time than we spend with our friends or even family in a given week. Based on contact time alone we have the ability to influence our co-workers in a Christ-centered way.
Our main goal at our workplace is to be a witness for the good news of Christ in our life. Besides direct evangelism, there are other areas that we can practice our love for Christ (John 14:15). We can worship the Lord through integrity; being honest in our work and not stealing from our employers. This includes robbing our employers of time worked. Joseph was held with the highest integrity in Potiphar’s house and God was able to use that in His master plan. We can show our inner joy by encouraging our co-workers instead of taking part in the complaining work atmosphere (1 Peter 4:9-10). We can love and serve others at work by enjoying their weekend stories and bearing their bad times, pointing them to the great burden bearer (Matthew 11:28-30). We can be the first to volunteer to serve, work the extra shift, or do the dirty job (Mark 9:35).
If you are loving the Lord in your home life, it will become natural to love Him in your work life. No job is too mundane for the Lord to use, after all the Father was a gardener in the Garden of Eden and the Son was a carpenter. Whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).