KINGDOM WORKING

KINGDOM WORKING

I started a new job last year which comes many new challenges and blessings. After routine set in and the newness wore off, I began feeling frustrated in this mundane repetition. I even started to loathe myself, feeling like I wasn’t making an eternal difference in my day to day. I wondered if I had settled for something less than God's best because this job wasn't directly correlated to ministry. I wanted God to be proud of me. Have you ever felt trapped in a hamster wheel of perceived inadequacy? What is true success and will we ever get there? The scripture in Colossians speaks directly to this striving attitude :

”Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.“
‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭ESV‬‬
The prize (our ultimate treasure) is our eternal inheritance! We will never find completion here on Earth from an occupation… but we are very clearly called to work hard at whatever has been placed in front of us with all our hearts. This is how we bring glory to our Creator and how we find fulfillment in our work. Throughout my search for meaning in the mundane, I have been awakened to some beautiful truths.
  • I can glorify my Creator by doing my work in such a way that I make the invisible God visible (by what I do and how I do it)
  • Doing life (even in all the mundane) CAN BE and IS fulfilling because I am living out my God-ordained calling and using my spiritual gifts
  • The way we engage in life, work, and relationships in inherently artistic
  • I am working for the Kingdom of God before any earthly employer 
  • True success is deeply knowing and being obedient to Christ 

We are eternal beings - created by and for our Creator. We live and breathe and work and strive only by His grace. He does not need anything from us. He delights in partnering with us. We have each been woven together with unique gifts and talents to steward in this life. It wrecks me again and again that He simply chooses us, despite all our failures, shortcomings, and idols. He invites to be part of a divine masterpiece. That amazes me. 

”When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet“
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭8‬:‭3‬-‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Who are we Lord, that you would be mindful - not just mindful, but constancy intentionally, lovingly, and patiently pursuing our hearts and affections. No matter what we accomplish in this life, worldly accolades mean nothing when compared to the assurance we have in our Father and Redeemer. Meditate in that truth and let it sink into the depths of your soul. 

A few months ago, I completed a book called Garden City by John Marc Comer. The contents radically changed my perspective on the concept of work. I highly recommend this work because it gave me immense perspective and peace. 

A song that really speaks to the rest we are invited to in simply knowing and being consumed by Christ is : Follow by Passion and Melodie Malone  

What a joy it is to follow Jesus
What a gift it is to bear His name
What an honor to choose surrender
And make Him my everything

 

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