Work As Worship
Daily Old Testament Reading: Deuteronomy 22-25
Daily Focus Passage: Deuteronomy 25
We often see work as a necessary evil. In reality, humanity was created to work and ultimately work for the Lord. Thus, when we work, we must find avenues to make it an opportunity to worship the Lord. In Deuteronomy 25, Moses instructed the people to do their jobs with integrity and obedience to the Lord. As Moses addressed the expectation of using honest measuring tools, he provided the expectation of serving the Lord in work as a form of worship.
WORK AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE
The place we work serves as a place we must worship the Lord. Our place of employment offers a place of holy ground where we worship the Lord by living out his calling and expectations. We must approach our work as a place to meet with the Lord and to reflect his presence in our lives. When we understand work as holy ground, then we can understand work as fertile ground as well.
Fertile ground is soil that contains the proper nutrients and makeup to produce results. As spiritually fertile soil, our employment offers the chance to plant gospel seeds with those we interact with. We find that soil for seed planting may exist with co-workers, customers, or just individuals we engage. When we treat work as fertile ground, we honor the Lord and worship him by sharing the gospel in word and deed. When this occurs, we allow work to become producing ground.
When the ground produces a harvest, the gathering occurs because of the planting and tending of the farmer. In the same way, when we treat our work as holy ground and fertile ground, we work for the Lord to allow our work to become producing ground. We seek to see individuals lost, saved, and the kingdom of God expanded. A producing ground brings worship because of one’s faithfulness and obedience.
WORK AS WORSHIP
When we view work as an opportunity for worship, we seek to worship by working with integrity. Integrity is the character of the individual when no one else is watching. This means that when we work with integrity, we seek to work in a manner that is worthy of the Lord and seeks to honor him because we work in righteousness. The idea rests on working in honesty and not taking advantage of others.
Integrity includes honesty, but honesty is crucial for worshiping through one’s work. Honesty focuses on not taking advantage of others and engaging others in transparency and truthfulness. Honesty in work means one seeks to make an honest wage and not a dishonest wage by abusing one’s position or manipulating a situation. Thus, when we treat work as a place of worship, we seek to worship the Lord of Truth by working with integrity and honesty.
Work often becomes a difficult component of our lives. We often see work as an end to meeting a means and do not see it as an opportunity to worship. I challenge each of us to change our perspective and find ways to serve and worship the Lord through our work. May we see the workplace as holy, fertile, and producing ground. May we seek to work with integrity and honesty.
