May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands (Psalm 90:17).
When we think of serving the Lord and the ministry, the first thought that comes to our mind is, “Oh that is not for me, I have no time for it, or “it is for priests and preachers, not my job” and so on. Each week the average adult spends nearly 40% of his or her waking hours working. Given that work occupies so much of our time; it would be rational to expect that God cares about what we produce during those hours and how we go about producing it.
We see that through the life of Jesus he has called everyone to the Ministry of work. For 30 years Jesus was known as a carpenter or son of the carpenter. It clearly shows that Jesus modeled work –life ministry. The Jews found it difficult to accept and identify with Jesus the carpenter, the son of God who did miracles at workplace. Jesus didn’t separate the work he did with his hands or head from the work he did with his heart. His Job was his ministry and ours too. Jesus showed us the way how our work life can be integral to our faith life.
In the New Testament we see 52 parables told by Jesus. Among these parables 45 of them had a workplace context. Acts recorded 40 divine interventions—39 were in the marketplace. Jesus spent His adult life as a carpenter until the age of thirty when He began a public preaching ministry in the workplace. Jesus called 12 workplace individuals—not clergy—to build His Church.
Jesus was a workplace minister who combined both a priestly call with a workplace call. He did not consider His work life to be less important than His spiritual life. Both were entwined in everyday life. There was no separation between the faith life and the work life. When we meditate on the true meaning of the, ‘Calling’ it would translate to be followers of Christ, “Everyone, everywhere and in everything and that should be our true response. But often we delegate this calling to mere preaching the word of God, or a calling reserved for priests, religious or the preachers. God has never said that one profession has more spiritual value than another. We all have different roles and callings.
God is helping many of us begin to understand our true calling as disciples of the Lord Jesus. But with different roles to play in the body of Christ—and no role is less “holy” than another. We could work miracles at our work place and we have been given the great opportunity to touch the many lives we come in contact to heal, to love and to make a difference. Just as Jesus had a work to do before His Father, we each are called to a specific work for which we will be judged and rewarded.
The Lord has called each of us to be excellent in what we do. Those whom God used in the Kingdom as workplace ministers were skilled and were excellent in their fields. Not only were these men skilled, they were filled with God’s Spirit.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. (.Colossians 3:23-24).
Kathaline