A Man’s Guide to Work

Excerpts from:A Man’s Guide to Work: 12 Ways to Honor God on the Job, By Pat Morley

YOU WERE CREATED TO WORK, and you will feel most happy, most alive, and most useful when you are doing the work you were created to do.

Unfortunately, over 50 percent of all workers are dissatisfied with their jobs — a record high — and as many as 80 percent are not in jobs best suited for them. That’s tragic, since about half of your 112 waking hours each week will be devoted to work and your work commute.

Most men do not have what we might call “a theology of work.” They feel theologically stranded-left to cobble together their own doctrine of work. They have not been trained for the marketplace.

Ask most Christian men, “Is business or plumbing a calling, like being a pastor? What is God’s purpose for you in the marketplace?” or a dozen similar questions, and you will probably get blank stares. That’s not because the Bible is thin on the subject. Far from it. The Bible is replete with wisdom for every work situation you will ever encounter.

MEN WHO FOLLOW JESUS CHRIST are an occupation force “ordained” to serve in the markets of men. We should regard work not just as a platform for ministry — work is ministry, and we are stewards put in charge until Jesus comes back, a fifth column who infiltrate a world stained by sin, acting as salt that preserves the way of Christ and light that leads broken people out of darkness.

Same Work, Two Results

Picture two airline ticket agents. They do exactly the same job, but one views his work as something he does to earn money, so when he finishes his shift, he can do what he really wants to do. He is easily irritated by customers complaining when their travel plans go awry.

The second agent views his work as a calling. Every time someone comes to him with a problem, he sees it as an opportunity to serve the customer and represent his great God. The agent does what he was called to do to the glory of God, even when facing resistance from a particular customer.

That second ticket agent understands the big idea of this chapter: Whether you’re a businessman or a minister, your work is a calling. It has intrinsic value, and it has potential to bear eternal fruit that honors God.

Read the rest of the article http://www.maninthemirror.org/alm/alm180.htm