On Work As Worship

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might…” Ecclesiastes 9:10

Our culture has destroyed the concept of the inherent goodness of work.

That’s not to say that work is always good. In fact, some kinds of work can be quite decidedly bad. But as our culture frantically climbs a ladder of self-promotion, it often appears that the idea of work as bringing glory to God has been lost somewhere along the way.

In the world, work is often either an obsession or something to endlessly whine about. And in the church, the feeling seems to sometimes prevail that ministry – work within and for the church – is the only work that truly matters.

But what if…what if all work done unto the Lord actually counts for eternity? What if it is actually all ministry? What if raising children and building houses and plumbing and flying planes and teaching and reporting and doctoring and repairing cars and waiting tables and any good and honest work makes just as much of a difference in eternity as pastoring a church does?

Every one of those jobs and so many more are immeasurably worthwhile to the kingdom of God.

Long ago, God planted a garden eastward in Eden and set therein a man and woman that He had created. And He gave them a job. The first task they were called to do was to tend the garden and care for the animals. Even in that perfect, untouched world, they were given a task that required them to work with their hands.

To dismiss work as anything less than God’s call on our lives, as just a meaningless, unfulfilling task that we are forced to wake up and do every single day, is to miss the bigger picture. What if, instead of slogging through each day, we were to look at the daily tasks that come our way as opportunities to worship instead of whine? What if everything we do can be done unto the Lord, as an act of service to Him? Wouldn’t it change absolutely everything about the way we live our lives?

I began to give thanks years ago for the work of my hands, for the ability to create and labor and work. Can work be exhausting? Absolutely. But can it also be fulfilling? One hundred percent. Every good and honest work we do brings glory to God, from sweeping the floor, to crafting a meal for our families, to pulling weeds. In fact, a secret fear of mine is someday losing the use of my hands…there are so many things I wouldn’t be able to do.

I have to confess, I lose sight of this every single day. I grumble and slide into discontentment far more often than I choose to remember that this so-called meaningless work brings God glory. (This work? These dirty dishes? Surely not, Lord!) But I find comfort in the thought that God knows us better than we know ourselves. We may wish for ease and freedom, for an open calendar and endless days free from commitments. Yet our Maker knows the fickleness of our hearts – that we bore easily, long for change and newness, and have trouble sticking to one thing for very long. He knows exactly what we need, that work is what our idle hands require in order for our souls and hearts to grow.

In many ways, it is the work of our hands that will bring beauty and order into a broken world, as God works through us. The labor of craftsmen, the gentle hands of mothers, the painstaking designs of an artist, the hands that make our morning coffee – these are what will ease our pilgrimage, leaving guideposts along the way that point others to the King. As we wait and watch and wonder and work, perhaps the world can see the hand of the Creator in it all. May they be ever pointed back to Him.

Don’t lost heart, friend. The work of your hands means more than a day’s job well done. It has a place in the grand order of eternity. It carries a weight of meaning that I don’t believe we can fully comprehend this side of heaven. Just imagine the work we will do someday, when all things have been made new. One day we will see the whole picture, and I truly believe it will be worth all the tears, sweaty brows, and aching backs along the way.

He makes everything beautiful in its time.

“And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.” – Colossians 3:23