12 Ways to Glorify God at Work
Josh Etter writes:
Mark Twain once said, “Work is a necessary evil to be avoided.” Although there may be days when we feel like he got it right, we know God has ordained work as a stewardship of his created world (Genesis 1:28; 2:15). He has designed work for his glory and our good. But how might we glorify God at work? This list is not exhaustive, but here’s at least 12 ways —
1. Believe that all legitimate work is holy or unholy before God based on our faith, not the nature of the work itself.
But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin (Romans 14:23).
2. Be just and honest in all your dealings with money.
A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is his delight (Proverbs 11:1)
3. Be prayerfully dependent upon God, pouring contempt on self-sufficiency.
Pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 4:17)
Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain (Psalms 127:1).
4. Use the wages earned by your work to provide for and bless others.
But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever (1Timothy 5:8).
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need (Ephesians 4:28).
5. Grow in our skill-set, work hard, and strive for excellence.
Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men (Proverbs 22:29).
In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty (Proverbs 14:23).
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16).
6. Exemplify love for your neighbor in how you interact with your colleagues.
Let all that you do be done in love (1 Corinthians 16:14).
7. Plan ahead and sincerely preface future tasks with “if God wills.”
Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house (Proverbs 24:27).
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that” (James 4:13-15)
8. Speak the gospel to your colleagues.
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20).
9. Work as unto the Lord and as unto men.
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ (Colossians 3:23-24).
Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust (1 Peter 2:18 ).
10. Focus on the work you’ve been given
Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty (Proverbs 28:19).
11. Speak words of grace.
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear (Ephesians 4:29)
12. Rest in your justification by faith alone in Christ alone.
yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified (Galatians 2:16).
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