Worshiping Work vs. Worshiping Through Work

Before accepting Christ as Lord and Savior, I primarily defined myself by work. If I desired something, I would simply work harder to get there:

• I want a 4.0...study more/harder
• I want to buy ABC...work harder/more hours at a better paying job
• I want to get DEF job...build that resume
• I want to run a mile in under 5 minutes...run more and push myself harder
• I want to impress XYZ...work harder at everything person XYZ sees me doing
• etc.

One HUGE distinction in my lift as an unbeliever and a believer is simply the word "through". It is clear that God commands all of us to work hard at whatever we do (Col. 3:23 for example). Any lawful work is God-honoring (somehow, even lawyers can honor God with their work). Adam was put in the garden to work (Gen 2:15). And to think for some reason that we are exempt from work (whatever our 'work' might be) is a serious flaw. To put this into Driscoll-ianese: "In certain instances there is reasons to not have to work...you however, don't have one." At the same time, defining ourselves by our work or worshiping our work is also sinful.

I love this definition of what work should be: "When people seek to fulfill their callings by glorifying God in their work, praising Him for their gifts and abilities, and seeing both their efforts and its products as an offering to Him, then work is an act of worship to God. On the other hand, when work is done to glorify oneself or merely to achieve more wealth, it becomes worship of false gods. How we work and for whom we work really matters" (When Helping Hurts, page 79).

God calls us to worship THROUGH our work. This is an every day struggle for me, and I'm assuming a lot of people who were brought up being told that the point of life is to live the American 'Dream'. Satan's false promises and lies are certainly tempting. But they're still lies, will never completely satisfy us...when we bet all of our chips on said lie, we're always left wanting more.

I love my job and God has graciously blessed me with the abilities to do it well. My boss' & even corporate customers' praise feels amazing at first, but before I know it I get sucked into being a work-a-holic. My temptation is to work like I did while wrapping up my M.S. thesis: eat 3 meals at my desk and never even peak at daylight except through a window at the end of a hallway on the way to an occasional bathroom break. On Monday, I really wanted to sell my idea to the numerous people that I would be presenting my design to on Tuesday...and temptation sucked me into working late on Monday: applying for patents on my work and finishing CAD models. It is easy for me to forget that my abilities are from God and notbecause of my hard work. It is easy for me to forget the freedom that I know is completely in Jesus Christ. It is easy for me to forget that my standing before Him, absolutely all that matters, is not based on how much or even how well-done my work is.

I constantly need to repent, remind myself (and others) that my abilities are not by my own doing and throw up a few prayers in light of that. However, this can often seem like more of an after thought. I really wish that ALL of my M.S. work was actually the act of worship to God that I idealized in the acknowledgements of my thesis. But as long as I'm in my flesh, I'll be selfish and sinful.

There is one particular story that I love to remind myself of. The story shows me the true extent that my success and abilities depend on God's blessing: About two weeks from the date of my thesis defense I realized that I was going to need to re-analize millions of data points...a task that took me about 2 weeks the previous summer with a significantly smaller subset of data. When I realized this I began thinking about how to automate the analysis with a computer script. I kept brainstorming and brainstorming but I really just ended up discouraged and felt certain that there was no way that I would graduate on time, my job offer would get pulled and I would have to pay for fall tuition. That night when I got home, I prayed that God would calm my fears and that He would guide me. And sure enough, I felt content with my situation and as plain as day (even though it was pitch black...no sunlight, remember?), every line of code that I needed to finish my analysis flashed before my eyes. God's intervention was far, far, far too undeniable in the situation. I went to sleep feeling completely assured and comforted that God's hand was completely guiding me. The next day, I coded exactly what I had been given and was done with the entire analysis that morning.

Even after having this experience, work is still something I run to. When I don't have anyone to hang out with after work...I simply work longer. When I don't want to deal with a situation...I'll work harder (to take my mind off of it), and longer (to avoid the situation). For me, work has always been either a band-aid sort of replacement of meaningful relationships with people, or a means by which Satan convinces me I can impress people with - thereby convincing them to want to have a meaningful relationship with me.

Please pray that I (and the rest of the world's workers) would seek to worship Him through our work and not vainly worship our work. Pray that workers would experience the sufficiency of God's grace and the complete satisfaction that a relationship with Him DOES offer, and that we wouldn't keep somehow seeking more (more that isn't there).