Office talk: Work is a privilege not a burden

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Have you ever felt that your job was a burden, and that the only reason why you're not yet quitting is for your big pay check?

When people hear the word "work," it can often make them uneasy. Work often correlates to unwanted responsibility that we don't want to do but do otherwise because we're getting paid to do it. Hence, concepts such as "Thank God It's Friday" and "Manic Mondays" were born. We don't want to work, and if we had a choice we would probably not choose work.

But did God really mean for work to be a burden? When God created Adam, the first thing He gave adam was a commission to subdue the earth and care for the garden of Eden. In other words, God gave Adam a job.

Why? It wasn't because God wanted to kill Adam's joy, waste his time pushing papers, or keep him busy until the day he retired. God gave Adam a job because He had a plan to use, prosper and grow him. In the same way, God has called each and everyone to work and be blessed through their jobs.

Work is God's idea

Your job was not your manager's idea nor was it the idea of the CEO of your company. Your job was God's idea, and God thought that it was a good idea to put you in the job you are currently in for this season to bring blessing upon you and your family. God invented the concept of work, and He meant for it to be good.

When we work, we participate in the big picture that God has for your department, your company and your city. God has called you into your job to fulfill a role that He thought no one else could.

Work is worship unto God

1 Corinthians 10:31 commands us that in "...whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." That includes your job. Your work is an opportunity for you to glorify God in your excellence, passion and dedication to becoming the best teacher, accountant, bus driver, executive or businessman that you can be. When the world sees us doing the best that we can in what we do, that's when He is most glorified and magnified both in the eyes of God and in the eyes of man.

Work is a result of God's grace

Every job and company contributes to the sovereign plan has over all the earth. Imagine what a privilege God has given to us: to participate in the big picture even when God knows that we'll probably just make mistakes along the way.

Work is a privilege given to us only because God is gracious and loving and does not shut us out but calls us instead to participate in His bigger plans. Even when we cannot be trusted with His plans, God entrusts to us His work of being a blessing to others through your employment. What a privilege!

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