Do You Love Your Job?

A few days ago, my old boss sent me a link to a sermon, but I didn't really find time to listen to it until today. The sermon was called: How to Get the Most Out of Your Work - Part 1. You might be thinking: "You must be some type of horrible employee to be given that link..."

You might be correct. But I don't think so. Recently, there have been some shake-ups in the workplace that left me feeling a little sad and dejected.  So, I think my old boss tried to cheer me up with a little Charles Stanley.

I'm not one to turn down help, so I put in my earbuds, and listened to it today at my desk (I multi-task). What's strange is this was also--briefly--the topic of my small group/bible study last night: Should we find purpose, meaning, and significance in our 9 to 5? I was like "I don't know about that."
Stranger still, two weeks ago I was relaxing in the National Mall (not a store, but a grassy are by the Smithsonian) with a friend and we discussed the extent to which a person can be defined by their career. And I said: "I wouldn't define myself that way."

So, this has come up three times! Maybe I need to pay attention a little. Should my thinking concerning work change?

chained to a desk? Break free!

I come from a school of thought that can be summed up in a few different ways:

• Everybody's working for the weekend - the Rock and Roll way
• Working to eat is a tragic, tragic curse (Genesis 3:17-19) -  the take the Bible-out-of-context-to-make-my-point way
• "Look down, look down, you'll always be a slave..." - The Les Miserables way

Clearly, I'm joking (a little bit). I don't, by any means, hate my gig, but the stuff Charles Stanley talked about, the things that we discussed in small group, and the way my friend feels defined by his government contractor career...all felt super foreign to me.

I didn't ask my friend how he came to internalize the career as part of his identity. So, no help there.

I was super skeptical in small group (where David was our comparable) for the following "legit" reasons: 

1. David has been called by God to his position. Anointed even. No oil has been placed on my head to anoint me as a CPA. Therefore I scientifically deduce this to be "apples and oranges."
2. At the height of my career achievement, I think the highest title I could ever have would be something like: "Controller" or "CFO." Yet, none of those sounds as significant as "King." I think it's easier to find meaning, purpose and significance when your title is "King." I'm just saying.



King of Israel, King of Pop...both great titles!

3. We were told to seek meaning...but not all told how to find it.

So, no take aways for me right?

But maybe my thinking is extremely twisted. To the first point, if I'm on the path that God has planned for me--I might not be, but if I am--then aren't I called to the work I'm performing? To my second point, does the significance of the title matter? Lots of teachers view their careers as their identity and there's nothing prestigious about it! "Teacher" is neither royal, nor is it lofty. But the fact that I'd want to only be identified by my job title if it was "Princess of Monaco" just makes--to my third point--the answer offered by Charles Stanley even more of a bitter pill to swallow:

View Yourself As A Servant

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Why Charles, why?

Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. - Colossians 3:22-24

This is the verse he hits me with. My first thought was "technically, I'm not a slave but rather an at-will employee..." but let's not mince words. I have to work somewhere, else I will be hungry. Or cold. Or hungry and cold. So though I'm not forced to work at a specific place, I am forced to work. But I don't have to view work in the ways listed up above. If I view it as a good work that God has prepared for me...won't I reverence it more? Enjoy it more? Love it more?

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. - Ephesians 2:10

And if that's a stretch, like if the good works have to be ministerial kingdom building, then what if I just do what Colossians says and view it "as for the Lord"? That is really key. I work for men. The slaves Paul was addressing worked for men! But if we merely work for men...it will potentially suck. Paul is asking us to look past those people, and to imagine (or even to realize) that everything we do is in the service of the Lord!

I tried it today. And failed miserably. I kept repeating in my mind: "Iamaservant iamaservant iamaservant" to no avail. I kept getting mad at e-mails and auditor requests. But I'm going to pray on it and keep conditioning myself to think this way. Why? Because life would be better if I lived as if I was anointed with oil to do my job: as if a good job for my boss is a good job for Jesus. Whether it's true or not. Though...I think it's true:

...the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. - Luke 22:26