Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever your task, work heartily, as serving the Lord and not men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you are serving the Lord Christ.
Working is never fun.
In my day job, getting up in the morning and going to an office every day is never something I view with excitement or anticipation. On more than a few days the gravity well in the center of the bed seems extra powerful!
When I reach the end of the work day, I am always glad to leave the office. When I am working from home, at the end of the work day I am always glad to sign out and go do something else. I am always happy to direct my thoughts to things other than work.
Yet I genuinely enjoy the work that I do. I enjoy the research. I enjoy the analytical efforts. I enjoy solving problems. Solving problems is when I come alive.
I will confess, I enjoy the praise and the compliments I get at work. When your boss says you are “a blessing”, that always feels good!
Who doesn’t like to be noticed for doing good work? Who doesn’t want to be respected for the work that they do?
In an ideal workplace, we receive praise whenever we do praiseworthy things. If we are ideal employees, we seek to always do praiseworthy things.
In reality, workplaces are rarely ideal. Many times people do praiseworthy things and never receive praise. That’s not right, and it certainly is not fair, but it is how many workplaces are.
In reality, we are frequently less than ideal employees, and do not always do praiseworthy things. Not only do we make mistakes, we grow tired and perhaps a bit lazy, and so take an inappropriate shortcut now and again. We might attempt to foist our responsibilities off on others—and others might attempt to foist their responsibilities off on us.
That’s not right, and it certainly is not fair, but it is how many people are at least some of the time they are at work.
We are imperfect. We are fallen. We are sinful. Even in the workplace, this is the reality for all of us.
Yet is it really sinful not to do praiseworthy things at work? Are we doing something wrong if we are doing less than our best at our job?
Broadly speaking, yes. We are called to always do our best, to give our best effort, no matter what.
Jesus reminds us of this in His teaching during the Sermon on The Mount, that we are to be “the light of the world.” We are not to simply sit and be idle. Rather, we are called to let God’s light shine into a darkened world through the work that we do. If we want people to think excellent thoughts about God’s light, we owe it to God and to ourselves to do excellent work.
Leviticus 19:35-36 also stand as an explicit prohibition to any sort of cheating in the workplace. We are called to make our measurements accurately, and our calculations precisely. We are called to deliver whatever labor, whatever service, to which we have agreed.
We do not have to wonder if details matter to the Lord. We are already told that they do.
We also do well to remember that all that we are comes from God. As God pointed out to Jeremiah in calling him to be a prophet to the nations, we are all God’s special creation. As Jeremiah would later remind the people of Israel in exile, God has plans for all of us, things we are called to do, missions we are called to undertake.
Jesus Himself reminds us of this as well, pointing out through the Parable of the Talents that each of us has been blessed with certain gifts. We are God’s own creation, and all that we are, all that we are able to do, comes directly from Him.
That which God has gifted us we are called to put to use.
God wants us to do things. God wants us to do good things. God wants us to make a difference in the world.
As is so often the case, this is very easy to say, and often very hard to do.
Regardless of the calling, regardless of the gifts we have been given to do whatever work is before us, the reality for most if not all of us is that working itself is not fun. Working is hard. Working can be quite annoying and frustrating. Working is what we have to do, not what we want to do.
Would I keep my day job if I were independently wealthy? Probably not.
Would I keep my day job if I had the chance to fully support myself with just my writings? Almost certainly not.
Even though I like the work that I do, all things being equal I would not choose to have the job that I do. Given a choice, I would want to do the work that I do my own way, on my own timetables, pursuing my own projects and tasks. Given a choice, I would want to do things “my way.”
I am not given a choice. Very few of us are given that choice. If I want to have a roof over my head and food in my belly, I have to do the work that I can where I can—and that means I have to hold down the job that I have. As is pointed out in Ecclesiastes 9:10, “whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.” Regardless of the difficulties and dilemmas I might face at work, the difficulties and dilemmas that come from not working would be even worse.
Working is never fun, but working is a better choice than not working. Not working means not having the means to pay rent, buy groceries, and take care of all the other things needed to live. For myself, as one who values independence and self-sufficiency, those are not acceptable outcomes.
Working is never fun, but I am blessed in that my job is more than just a paycheck. My job is one that challenges me with regularity. My job stimulates me and keeps me from falling into a mindless rut of routine.
Not all jobs are like that. There are jobs that do seem almost mindless, where showing up is not just half the job, but nearly the entire job. I have worked at jobs like that. Those are the jobs where it is tempting to give less than my best effort. Those are the jobs where I have often not given my best effort. Those are the jobs where I have told myself it didn’t matter how good my work was—or was not.
Only it did matter. It does matter. Regardless of how or why I was at a particular job, the reality of that job was that it was the work that was before me. The reality of that job is that it was what had been given to me to do. The reality of that job is that it was where I was tasked with letting God’s light shine into a darkened world through my work.
The reality of such jobs is that they were jobs where I did not let God’s light shine into the darkened world nearly as much as I could have. The reality of such jobs is that they were moments when I failed to answer God’s calling.
The reality of such jobs is they were the jobs where, like the servant given only the two talents or the one talent, I was not given much. Like the servant given only the one talent, they were jobs where I was not faithful with what I had been given.
I could easily rationalize poor work performance as being not my fault. It was somehow the job’s fault for not being sufficiently stimulating. It was the employer’s fault for not giving me work that I enjoyed. No one cared about the work, and so no one was hurt if my work performance was poor. At one time or another, I have told myself exactly those things.
Yet that job was still what was put before me to do. That job was still work I agreed to do. If I did not do the work as best I could, that job was an agreement I failed to keep.
Was anyone hurt by my poor work? At the very least I was. Working may not be fun, but working at a job one actively dislikes is downright painful. Working at a job one actively dislikes leaves one bitter and angry at just about everything. Working at a job one actively dislikes perversely made it that much more difficult to find a better job, because radiating anger and bitterness is a great way to screw up a job interview—a necessary stepping stone to finding a better job.
What is the alternative? When a job is mindless, or frustrating, or the workplace is simply toxic in whatever way, how does one avoid bitterness and anger?
In a word: holiness.
In every situation and circumstance, especially ones where we are put upon on all sides, we are still called to holiness. We are still called to strive to be “worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness.” We are still called to bear good fruit, and to let God’s light shine into a darkened world through our work and through our lives.
When I put my focus back on God, I push frustration and anger out of my mind. When frustration and anger no longer cloud my thoughts, I can see alternatives and opportunities I did not see before, and am in a frame of mind to take advantage of them.
When I put my focus back on God, I rekindle hope. Cynicism and bitterness are replaced by optimism and even joy.
When I put my focus back on God, even the frustrating and infuriating task becomes that much more doable.
Nor should we be surprised that this is the case. The Apostle Paul points out that this is the case in Romans 12, when he calls people to be shaped by faith and not by the pressures and problems of the world around them.
The single best thing any of us can do to deal with difficult situations in any job is to remember that, no matter the difficulty, the work that we do is always in service of God. In doing whatever work is at hand, we owe it to ourselves to follow God’s Law.
No matter who signs the paycheck, the work we do in every job, and in every profession, is always in service of God. Being mindful of that motivates—at least it motivates me. Being mindful of that elevates—at least it elevates me.
My prayer on every day is that I will always keep my focus on God, where it belongs. My prayer on every day is that, in focusing on God, I will remember that, no matter what task I am doing, I am doing it in service of God, and strive to do it well for that reason. My prayer on every day is that, through focusing on God, I will always hear and heed God’s call to holiness, and so strive for excellence in everything that I do.
My prayer for you on every day is that you will always keep your focus on God, where it belongs. My prayer for you on every day is that, in focusing on God, you will remember that, no matter what task you are doing, you are doing it in service of God, and strive to do it well for that reason. My prayer for you on every day is that, through focusing on God, you will always hear and heed God’s call to holiness, and so strive for excellence in everything that you do.
No matter who signs the paycheck, the work we do in every job, and in every profession, is always in service of God. Being mindful of that motivates. Being mindful of that elevates.
In every situation and circumstance, especially ones where we are put upon on all sides, we are still called to holiness. We are still called to strive to be “worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness.” We are still called to bear good fruit, and to let God’s light shine into a darkened world through our work and through our lives.
You are blessed with such an excellent analytical mind that I’ll bet you’re great at nearly every task you do, Peter. Heaven knows you are certainly a great Substack writer - and I thank you for that!
“And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.” - Colossians 3:23, 24
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