I think it safe to say that most people are unhappy at work. Some are downright miserable. Unfortunately, so are many Christians. Why do we often feel like everyone else in the world when it comes to our jobs?
For many years, I lived in the “unhappy with my job” boat. Whether it was the pay, how the company was run, the environment, or that one hard to work with person. I was continually discontent, frustrated, exasperated , and stressed out. Often, not wanting to even go to work.
One day the Holy Spirit said, “If you don’t know who you are, you won’t know why you’re there.”
At the core of my workplace issues was spiritual ignorance. I’d given my life to Christ with no real understanding of what salvation means. I didn’t know that when I was born-again, I became God’s child and received an entirely new identity. And with that new identity came a new purpose for living and working.
Purpose is defined as the reason for which something is done or created or (the reason) for which something exists. (Google Online Dictionary)
The ultimate purpose for salvation is the same for every believer in Jesus Christ – without exception. It’s found in Romans 8:29, For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. NASB
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. NASB
God’s purpose for everyone he calls is to be “…conformed to the image of His Son”, meaning Jesus. All things in the life of a Christian, even evangelism, is designed to flow into and out from this one purpose. Including the thing we spend most of this life doing…working.
If you’ve been born-again, the purpose for your life and work changed the moment you were re-created. Motivations, expectations, and aspirations connected to the person you were before are gone. Literally, a new person has been born!
The problem is most believers don’t know this. I didn’t. I went to work each day with the same purpose and expectations I had before. I had no new motivations, no new aspirations. As a result, my anxieties, frustrations, and discouragements continued.
Colosians 3:1-3 teaches, Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Christ is to be our life. Though we live much of that life in the workplace, work itself is not life. Jesus is. Our perspective must shift from earthly and worldly things to “things above”. These are heavenly things, the things of the Lord, especially obedience to the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit. Our mindset must be toward the Lord, Jesus when it comes to our jobs, careers, and business. Only then can God truly move us into the transforming purpose for which we’ve been called.
I no longer work in a state of discontentment. Not because things are perfect on my job, they’re not. But because I’m committed to letting God fulfill His purpose for my new life in Christ through my work. As a result, my worklife has completely changed.
I stand on Romans 8:28 – All things work together for the good of those who love God and have been called according to His purpose. God is merciful and gracious. But He’s not causing all things to work together for the good of my own purposes apart from His – in life or at work. Regardless of how often I envoke the name of Jesus.
Many believers have not yet been re-created in Christ, and are trying to live “new” without the Holy Spirit power necessary to do so. Many have been led to belive they’ve been spiritually re-born. Yet, despite their “Christian” efforts, life and work hasn’t really changed that much, if at all.
Challenge Question: Have you been born again from above – based on the Word of God? If so, how do you know? What fruit of the re-birth are you seeing in how you live and work?
This website is dedicated to helping the beliver in Jesus Christ understand and walk in God’s true purpose for you in life and at work; and to help equip you in the workplace for the fulfillment of that purpose.
Work As To The LORD 