Hands On! (Part 1) Series

That’s why I like how our verse today starts. “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might”. Whatever. I’m not talking about that expression of “whatever” that we say when we just wanted to end a debate with our parents for example. Whatever here shows us the extent of God’s ownership of our lives. Whatever means anything and everything. Whatever means whatever. That means every area of our lives belongs to God.

In our verse, it specifically refers to our work. Solomon was the wisest man who has ever lived on earth other than the Lord Jesus. He wrote Ecclesiastes, which means “The Speaker in a gathering.” In this book, he wrote that life is empty without God. We can only be satisfied… we can only be fulfilled… we can only enjoy life if that life revolves on the Life. Someone wrote that the “meaning for life is not in life, but in the One who gives life.” One of the ways we can really enjoy life in view of the Life-giver is found in our verse: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it will all your might”. God meant for us to enjoy work. And we can only enjoy it if we see our work as our worship to God. Keep in mind that we serve God through our work. That’s why we are commanded, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might”. What the verse is teaching us is this: “Do your BEST with WHAT you can WHILE you can.”

The conditional clause “Whatever your hand finds to do” mean “whatever you are able to do”.[3] Whatever ability God gave us, whatever gifts, whatever opportunity, whatever job we handle, whatever company we work with, we are to do our best with what we can while we can. Of course, I am talking about jobs that are legal and moral. So, if you are into gambling, that’s not included in God’s “whatever.” I am talking about honest labor. I am talking about a decent job. Whatever it is, be it as CEO or rank and file, be it janitor or top executive, be it high-paying or chicken feed, “whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might”. That’s why we have to do our best with what we can while we can.

Someone wrote that the Jewish people looked upon work as a trust from God, not a curse.[4] Even rabbis have to learn a trade. They taught that “He who does not teach a son to work, teaches him to steal.” That’s why Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12, “Even while we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘Whoever does not work should not eat.’ Yet we hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and wasting time meddling in other people’s business. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we appeal to such people—no, we command them: Settle down and get to work. Earn your own living.”[5] But we work not just because we want to meet our needs. We work as our worship to God. We serve God through our work.

We tend to think that only those who serve “full-time” in church such as pastors like really serve the Lord. We believe that worship only happens within the four walls of this worship hall. We assume that only those who do the tasks in the church or participate in church activities are the ones who serve the Lord. Yes, we also give opportunities to people to serve God in our church. This morning we have a sign-up table at the foyer of the church building for those who would like to join our greeters’ ministry. I encourage you to sign-up. This could be the start of your involvement with our church. I believe this is the best way to discover or exercise our gifts. But, we should not limit serving God to church activities. We should not think that when the worship service ends at 9:30AM and you exit this building, our worship has ended. No, our worship continues. We are to worship God 24/7, every day of our lives. We continue serving God in our work, in our studies, in our companies, in our homes and in our schools.