Wednesday, November 9, 2022
Holy Work
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ”
—Colossians 3:23-24
Early on in my marriage and being a young mom, one of my greatest challenges was stretching our paycheck.
Our grocery budget was a whopping $20 a week. It took every effort of mine to figure out how to stretch half of a chicken breast to feed our family for dinner. Every item on my grocery list was essential to my meal planning, and not one thing went to waste. There was no wiggle room for flowers or other nonessentials unless I managed to collect enough blue chip stamp rewards at Stater Brothers!
We didn’t have the money to spend on extra clothes, so I sewed most of my maternity clothes. Not with a fancy sewing machine (we couldn’t afford that), but by hand!
Wherever we could, we were pinching pennies and making sure to stay within our means.
Learning how to budget was almost a full-time job in itself. We made the most of it, but it wasn’t always easy! Sometimes, I wasn’t always sure how we’d make ends meet.
And yet, we always had enough.
Our jobs provided what we needed for our family to eat. But at the end of the day, that wasn’t the purpose of why we worked.
If God wanted to, He could easily make money fall from the sky and end all of our financial struggles. Imagine how nice that would be!
But He doesn’t because there is more of a purpose to our labor than just making money.
Throughout Scripture, we find evidence of God at work. In Genesis 2:19, God is forming each creature by hand. He is working, with His hands in the dirt and dust, creating a paradise for His children.
Jesus declares in John 5:17, “My Father is always working, and so am I” (NLT). Jesus, in His time on earth, taught us how to work even when we are tired, undervalued, underappreciated, or taken advantage of.
Even the Precious Holy Spirit works! Jesus defines the Holy Spirit as “the Helper” in John 14:26, as well as our teacher and guide (ESV).
God Himself—in every facet of who He is—delights in work. He constantly shows us the beauty of a job well done. Just think about the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets we get to experience and the details of every creature here on earth!
Our laboring is not for naught—there is a holiness to doing a good job and a blessing in working for His glory.
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:23-24 ESV).
Our work and our vocation are blessings from God and should not be dreaded or done just for a paycheck or a pat on the back. It is to be valued and celebrated, knowing that we will be rewarded in many ways over a lifetime for being faithful and doing the good work, and living our lives as the Lord intended
