Dear Friends,
In the last blog, I discussed the need to have a balanced approach to work and rest as a biblical principle of work. This time the focus is on the need for vision and creativity.
The worldly narrative of work tends to portray it as a meaningless means to an end. People are described as literally enduring work to get money to pay bills and enjoy the good things of life such as eating out, holidays, and so on. ‘Thank God its Friday’ is, therefore, an expression that portrays relief and freedom from the life of drudgery in work. For most regular workers life is the drudgery of 5 days of suffering followed by 2 days of trying to get enough enjoyment to last until the next Friday. No wonder many are stressed and often dissatisfied at work!
According to Gallup’s recent State of the Global Workplace report, 85% of workers are disengaged from their jobs. That is nearly 9 out of every 10 people find little to no joy or meaning in the thing they are spending more than a third of their days doing (Ref Jordan Raynor – The Meaning of Work Devotional 1 of 3 16 September 2019).
The above is not dissimilar to how the Bible described work after the fall of Adam in Genesis 3: 17-19. Thus ‘cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil, you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you’ – is exactly how people of the world do work. That is why Solomon, later on, described work under the sun as sorrowful, grievous; with no rest and as vanity (Ecclesiastes 2:22-24). This is however not applicable to those who are in Christ.
The Bible portrays a God that works, who created everything good including humans He created in His image to do the same. Work for Christ Disciples is supposed to be our way to worship God our creator and to add something good to society.
The mistake many of us are making is to think we can only serve God in the church building where we only spend 2 or 3 hours a week. This is partly the reason many Christians are struggling to find fulfillment in service to God at these times when church activities are virtually non-existent. This is the time to think differently!
Think differently about work
The fact is that only a few of us will ever be needed in the full-time ministry of working in a Church and the rest are created to fulfil our life purpose in the workplace where we spend most of our productive hours. I hope, that by the time you finish reading this, you will even be more determined to bring the Kingdom agenda to your workplace as part of offering yourself as a living sacrifice in true worship of your God (Romans 12:1).
Because God has placed us in the workplace for a purpose, He has equipped us with the skills, abilities, and the experience that we need to make a success of it so that we can bring glory to His Holy Name. God did not stop there; He then also fill us with His Holy Spirit which gives us the supernatural ability to excel more than anyone else. If this is true, then a Christ-Disciple who is constantly unfulfilled in the workplace is most likely either in the wrong job or living in disobedience.
Please note that I am not saying that everyone will rise to the top of their career or be the boss of where they work or make lots of money in their businesses, or will not have a bad day at work; that would be simply not true. But whatever position a true Disciple of Christ works in, they will produce excellent service to God’s glory, and they will have fulfillment in their work. I remember reading the story of a cleaner who was so brilliant at cleaning the toilets and when asked why she worked so hard replied that she cleans as if the next person to use the toilet is Jesus! How transformed would the world be if we all do the same in our jobs!
In case you are still wondering if you are in the right job, may I suggest you ask yourself the following questions: Am I passionate about what I am doing? Do my gifts and talents match what I am doing? Am I able to bring glory to God and serve others in my job?
Below are additional resources you may find helpful:
- Findmywhy is run by professional psychologists and can give you meaningful insight and clarity about what you can do for employment https://www.findmywhy.com/
- The book ‘The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?’ by Rick Warren https://bit.ly/goolesearchpurposedrivenlife
light bulb moment
You may want to ask why do we need to be creative at work if God has given us everything we need to be effective? Could it be that God gave us an acorn but did not crack it for us? I believe the answer is that God only requires us to get the vision of our purpose at work as a creator, in His image, to His glory and for the benefit of others; how we then go about the work is up to us.
God gave us the example of himself as a creative being in Genesis Chapters 1 and 2 when He created all things ending with Adam and Eve in His image. The first instruction from God to the couple was to be fruitful, to increase in number, to fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the other living creatures (Genesis 1:28). God did not explicitly dictate how they do these because He had already given them the creative Spirit they need.
God has given each of us a deposit of Himself in the person of the Holy Spirit and by His help, we can be assured of our ability to create and produce excellent work.
But even before God poured His Holy Spirit upon all of us His Disciples, there was the great example of Bezalel in the old testament who God used to design the Tabernacle in the time of Solomon. Bezalel was the first person described in the Bible to be filled with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge, and with all kinds of skills—to make artistic designs for building the tabernacle (Exodus 31:1-5).
In the new testament, there was an example of how seven people were chosen for the charity work of the early Church in looking after the poor. On this occasion, seven men were selected because they were known to be filled with the Holy Spirit and with wisdom (Acts 6:1-4).
What I am trying to say here is that whilst few of us like Bezalel will be gifted in artistic creation, all of us are gifted in at least one thing God has purposely created us to add to our society, even if it is to wait on tables as the seven early disciples. What remains for us is to identify our life calling and then devote our entire life to fulfilling it.
Creative mess
God intends to bring His Kingdom here on earth and He wants all of us to be part of the creation. Just as Bezalel was called to create a physical representation of God’s temple in the old testament, we have all been called to create the Kingdom of God on the earth. It must start with us as individuals, and then we can support others around us to catch the same vision.
Bezalel created the Tabernacle out of what God had already provided. He started with God’s creative Spirit as already cited. He was provided with raw materials of gold, silver, bronze, stones, and wood. He also had people who work alongside him as partners. This means that apart from the spiritual gifts from the Holy Spirit, we should also look out for physical and material resources that God has made available to us to fulfil our creative purpose.
But even with the Holy Spirit, skills and resources made available, we still must put in the necessary hard work and focus to maintain our creativity in work. We need to persevere in the face of opposition and carry on with what God has called us to do. We need to pray without ceasing for our workplaces, colleagues, customers, and of course ourselves to ensure that God’s Kingdom is manifested.
After doing all the above, then we must leave the rest to God. This is the point where I refer us back to the first principle of getting the correct rhythm of work and rest; we must trust God when we have put in our hours and everything we have, then we need to rest and prepare for the next cycle of creative work.
Acknowledgment – some materials used in this blog are taken from:
- Jordan Raynor Author of Master of One https://www.amazon.com/Master-One-Find-Focus-Created/dp/0525653333 You can read the full blogs from her devotional archives from April 2020 https://jordanraynor.com/devotional-archive/
- Dave Hataj – Good work – How blue-collar business can change lives, communities, and the world. Moody Publishers April 2020
Please let us have your thoughts and comments on this blog as we would appreciate your feedback. You can email us at FM Ministry hello@fmministry.co.uk or use the comment box below. You may also connect with us on Social Media.
God bless you and keep growing in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Adesina
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