What is Christian Work?
I had the privilege of painting the outside of my house this weekend and before I started it, I thought to myself it would be a time of mindless work which would allow me to pray, praise the Lord and think on some ideas I have been contemplating. After a while of painting I realized, I was not doing this, but was spending all my time thinking about the preparation of the wood and siding, concentrating on making sure the paint covered well and ensuring I was safe as I painted off of the ladders.
At first I was disappointed and felt I was missing an opportunity to be faithful to the Lord by praying and meditating on Him. However, I came to realize, the job I was doing was important (for the look of my house and the protection of its siding and windows) enough to call for my undivided attention. It became an act of worship for me to do a good job and use all my talents to make it so.
Questions came to my mind as I was contemplating this today.
1) How many times do we take this type of view in our jobs in the secular world?
2) Whether it is raising children, building airplanes, selling houses or taking care of ourselves in health matters, do we look at the ‘job’ as a act of worship by giving it all of ourselves?
3) Is this Christian work because I am a Christian doing it, or because I am doing it with acts and words which are Christian oriented?
I have my own thoughts, but want the Spirit to lead each of us to the answers.
2 comments:
Hi Mike! I had a conversation with a Christian computer programmer who realized that he would really goober things up if he didn't concentrate on his task. He struggled with how he could "pray without ceasing" and still keep his head in his programming.
Personally I often feel a struggle between "ministry" activities like visiting the sick, Scripture study, prayer, etc. and stuff like creating videos and dealing with tech matters related to Worship ministry. Sometimes I go home woncering if I was a pastor or an administrator.
the answer of course, is that God can be glorified in it all, and it all is necessary.
Mike, dear brother in law/brother in grace, I didn't know you had a blog! What a good way to keep up with everyone. You know "praying without ceasing" means so much to me- it reminds me of breathing. I am an orthopedic surgeon and of course I must concentrate on my duties! Yet in all the times that I find myself in a particularly difficult situation, I have never forgotten to breath!
Another verse similar to 1 Thes 5:17 is Eph 6:18, "praying at every time," except here Paul adds an interesting phrase, "in spirit" and this to me is a key to how we can pray at "every time" or "unceasingly". Once I realized that I was one spirit with the Lord, (1 Cor 15:45) the christian life opened up to me and I found the way to remain in constant contact with Him-He and I are ONE. By exercising to remain in my spirit, abiding in Him, I found what Paul meant by "unceasingly" and "at every time" it truly is like the automatic function of our lungs! Sure miss you brother and hope to see you soon. Love, Joel
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