I remember years ago, when I had just started following Christ. I wanted to hear from God so bad that I would sometimes do nothing until I thought He was giving me a direction. While this may sound like beautiful surrender, the lack of fruit in my life proved this was not necessarily the best thing to do.
I’ve often heard the focus of our text above be placed on the latter portion, “as for the Lord.” Preachers say things like, “even if your boss is mean, you don’t work for the man, but for the Lord!” They are right! There is also more to this verse. Let’s take a look.
The verse contains four important parts concerning work.
- Whatever you do. It means whether one is the president of a large corporation, or serving fries at McDonald’s, the same level of dedication is expected, which is described in the rest of the verse.
- Work heartily. There is no other way to work according to this verse. The work must be done to the best of one’s ability and with full dedication.
- As for the Lord. Whatever your gifts and talents are, they were given to you by God. Use them. Not only that, but God is worthy of all excellence and praise. May your work be as excellent and worthy of praise as it can possibly be.
- And not for men. Because let’s be honest, Men (or humans if you prefer) will make you want to do exactly the opposite of what this verse instructs us to do. Yes, don’t work as if for that mean boss. But even if he or she is the best boss, working for God takes your work ethic much further.
What Then
Let’s make sure that whatever it is that we do, we produce our very best and excellent work. The requirement is not that it would be perfect. So, we can leave that pressure behind. We are to do our best with what we have, right where we are.
Let’s also make sure that we keep our hands busy. I’m not talking about being so busy that our families suffer and we don’t take time to rest. Yet, seeking God’s direction is not exempt of human efforts. We have to trust that God will lead the way, align our intentions with His and take us where He wants us to go.
Even if we work hard, God should always get the glory for the results. A miracle is still a miracle even if God works it through us.
Take It Home
Action Plan Is your work the best you can offer? Is there a class you could take to improve yourself at what you do? My father recently went back to school so that he could get further with his skills. He is 62 years old! Way to go, dad! It’s never too late.
Prayer Lord God, what a blessing to be able to work and enjoy giving my best to you. I am grateful that although You are perfect, You don’t expect perfection from us. When Jesus told the disciples to feed the crowd, He said to them, “bring me what you have.” He was the one to multiply it supernaturally to feed the large crowd. Take my best and multiply it, Lord. To you be the glory. Amen!
