The Spiritual Nature Of Work

“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.” [1]

The necessity of going to work Monday morning despite being exhausted from the “rest and relaxation” pursued throughout the weekend, is the stuff of legend in our modern world. Though this view of life seems to predominate throughout the working years, it is startling to realise how many people die shortly after retirement. And the deaths of those recently retired are not solely the result of age! While few death certificates will list boredom as a cause of death, boredom, and a loss of purpose for those who have ceased working at some daily job, must surely be a major contributor, if not the primary cause, of death in those who are retired. When we no longer have a purpose for our day, we lose the desire to continue living.

I know Canadians work hard. We are producers, willingly working to produce goods and to harvest commodities the world requires to move and to build and to feed itself. Here in the Peace Country where we are privileged to live, we are especially noted for our energetic population. I count it an honour to pastor a church that is populated with industrious people. However, even a cursory reflection on the lives of our forebears compels us to acknowledge that those who preceded us in this life had far fewer days for recreation, far fewer days to rest and recuperate amid their exhausting weeks. Our grandparents, and even our parents, worked far more hours each day and worked harder during their days than what is required in this present day.

Our lives are made easier through the availability of modern conveniences. Big screen televisions allow us to amuse ourselves for hours, or to get a head start on sleep, each evening. Microwave ovens and convection ovens that can be programmed and controlled from the phones we carry in our pockets ensure that we can cook more quickly and with greater ease than what our grandparents, or even our parents, could have known. Freezers and refrigerators ensure that we do not need to work as hard as did our forebears to have food safely stored and always available to feed our families. Kitchen utensils ensure that food preparation is not the arduous chore that faced our parents. And this is only the situation concerning food preparation.

Modern transportation, at least until politicians begin to plan our travel, allows us to visit distant locations, often on a whim! We are no longer confined to our little region of the country, or even restricted to travel within the borders of our own nation. Travel to distant locations for yearly holidays would have been an unthinkable luxury in an earlier era. When missionaries are sent out by our churches, we anticipate that they will return on deputation in a few years because the travel between their site of service and the supporting churches has become so convenient. In an earlier day, missionaries went to their field of service, remaining there providing their service until they died or until they retired. Not many years ago, even visiting relatives or friends living in distant provinces would have been difficult if not impossible. Things are quite different today.

Some things haven’t changed. While we are blessed with conveniences that were unknown to, and at best were, but a gauzy dream for those living in earlier generations, it nevertheless remains true that we are compelled to eat our bread by the sweat of our face [see GENESIS 3:19]. And it is still true that if you are a follower of the Risen Saviour, you are responsible to honour Him with the labours you perform. Christ Jesus is to be central to your life and to your service, as witnessed when the Apostle instructs the saints gathered in the assembly located in Colossae. Together, let’s study that passage so that we will firmly establish what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord.

THE SCOPE OF THE DIVINE DICTUM — “Whatever you do…” [COLOSSIANS 3:23a]. I have attested on multiple occasions, “Either Jesus is Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all.” Either the Risen Son of God reigns over your life— every facet, or He has no place in your life. Either Jesus is sovereign over every choice in your life, or He has no place in your life. There is no ability for us to present one aspect of life as being under the reign of Christ while attempting to preserve our personal control over another facet of life. To say that Jesus is sovereign requires that we have allowed Him to assume the reign over every aspect of life. And that includes the physical labours of our body!