John Stott once wrote, “Too many Christians see their work as no more than a painful necessity.” How do you view work?
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kmalcock on January 10, 2012 at 2:21 am
Currently i am working in a very difficult and challenging environment and earnesty praying that God will provide me with another job. John Stott’s quote has really challenged me this morning! Praying that God will continue to empower and sustain me in this demanding job and that I will be given the opportunity to show Jesus in my everyday work-life. I suppose work to a lot of people is a real necessity but even if it can be painful at times, it is to our our comfort that God will be our helper and aide. We can rest assured that God is with us.
Alvin on January 12, 2012 at 5:05 am
guilty, guilty, guilty.
I am an Economics graduate but all my jobs were procurement and IT related. Although I prayed to God to grant me these jobs, I am still in that stage of bugging myself thinking that “maybe these are not for me”. I could hardly comprehend hardcore IT concepts and terms (programs, jobs, function modules), and I feel that this is not the work I am not most effective in doing.
There are times that I try finding passion in this thing that I do but to no avail. I am reviewing the stuff that I like doing, my preferences, etc and I recently came to realize I wanted to take MA in Psychology. Soaked with prayers, maybe sooner, God is show to me what His way is.
GOD IS NOT THE AUTHOR OF CONFUSION, that I am fully aware. In all these, I am thankful and hopeful that His Perfect Will for me is gonna prevail. I am left with only two choices.1.) is either I am gonna learn to trust God for everything or .2) I am gonna drive myself crazy trying to figure out everything that is going on.
zero_g on January 12, 2012 at 7:15 am
As a software engineer, quality is an elusive, somewhat unmeasurable attribute. For the last 25 years I have worked on procedures for improving quality of software. What I have found after 25 years, is that it really comes down to the attitude of the engineer. Does he do his best work possible? Christians have an advantage in this area in how they look at their work. We can ask, “does it please God?”
following on January 12, 2012 at 1:03 pm
Praise God for your comments. Each is a blessing. The joy we get from doing Gods work far surpasses joy from our wordly jobs. Its not a 40+ hr work week, God gives the best health benefits and family coverage is free! You dont have to worry about being layed off and if you miss a day or days, the next day is a brand new day with a clean slate. As Christians, lets keep this in mind and pray to have a better attitude doing Gods work (including me!!)
RaeRae on January 14, 2012 at 2:24 pm
I’m a stay-at-home wife and mother (of two teens). My work is in the home, which some people fail to see as legitimate “work.” But for me, it is my job. I get up before everyone else in the house and cook and clean and do laundry. I pay the bills and make appointments. I plan a menu around everyone’s likes and dislikes and then make sure that we always have enough food on hand plus enough for snacks. I’m in charge of knowing what everyone needs before they do and getting it for them. I stay on top of each person’s social life- scheduling “dates,” planning parties- all the while, keeping Jesus at the center of all activities. I make sure that our house and our family runs like a well-oiled machine. My husband doesn’t have to worry about a thing, other than going to his job and coming home and relaxing. And all these things are done during the day because I still have the ministry God has called me to outside of my family. I’m not saying this to brag because I truly count myself blessed to have the job that I do, and God is the Source of the strength and wisdom required to do it all. However, there are times when I find it very easy to look at my day’s agenda and become overwhelmed. I know in my mind that if I don’t do my job, it will show; it won’t take the kids and my husband very long at all to notice that I haven’t cooked dinner or that their clothes aren’t clean. They’ll surely notice if I don’t get the bills paid on time and the lights get cut off or the water stops running. And so, there are moments when I feel a little trapped in my job because I know it HAS to be done, and I’M the only one here to do it. But God has been so kind and loving to remind me that what I’m doing is in itself a part of my ministry- the main part. Making our home a safe, loving and welcoming place is one of His callings on my life. So I’m thankful- even on the days that I feel like I’m just drudging through and barely making it. Even when no one pats me on the back for all of my hard work or careful thought, I know that He sees. I also know that He has called me to walk behind the scenes, giving my family consideration before myself…and Him all the glory! I’m so grateful for my “job.”
austin on January 16, 2012 at 7:54 am
God bless you and your family RaeRae, keep doing what you are doing! Don’t let yourself become overwhelmed and don’t be to prideful to ask your husband or kids for help.
There are times I see my work as a means to an end (food, shelter, etc) rather than a blessing and opportunity for ministry through example. A few years ago I realized I felt the most job satisfaction when I worked diligently and wasn’t distracted by my own desires or laziness. If I do my best at work, as if working for the Lord, I feel peace.