How to Do the Job You Don't Really Want to Do

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might" (Ecclesiastes 9:10a).

"Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).

I recently ran across this short devotion in Elisabeth Elliot’s book A Lamp for My Feet (Vine Books, 1985) and thought it would be good to share with the Labor Day weekend on the horizon. Elliot reminds us that our occupations are God’s gift to us to help move us toward greater holiness and faithfulness:

Certain aspects of the job the Lord has given me to do are very easy to postpone. I make excuses, find other things that take precedence, and, when I finally get down to business to do it, it is not always with much grace. A new perspective has helped me recently:
The job has been given to me to do.
Therefore it is a gift.
Therefore it is a privilege.
Therefore it is an offering I may make to God.
Therefore it is to be done gladly, if it done for Him.
Therefore it is the route to sanctity. Here, not somewhere else, I may learn God’s way. In this job, not in some other, God looks for faithfulness. The discipline of this job is, in fact, the chisel God has chosen to shape me with—into the image of Christ.
Thank you, Lord, for the work You have assigned me. I take it as your gift; I offer it back to you. With your help I will do it gladly, faithfully, and I will trust You to make me holy.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Note: Evangel article (8/27/08).