“”Your Mission if You Choose to Accept It… Is At The Office”
by brian rushing
…or at the factory or school or hospital or wherever you work.
I am about to wrap up these thoughts on being a witness in your workplace, but I think this idea is so very important for each one of us. I think that we too often believe that our work can only be considered a benefit to God’s Kingdom if we are in a church-related occupation. Nothing could be further from the truth. God has placed you where you can benefit His kingdom in the work you are presently in.
John Piper says that you should – “Stay In Your Job With God”:
The call to be a Christian was not a call to leave your secular vocation. Paul said: “So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.” Paul’s view was that God had sovereignly “assigned” or “called” unbelievers to positions in life where their conversion would have significant impact for his glory. “Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him.” Paul does not mean that changing jobs is wrong in the Christian life. What Paul does mean is that when we are converted we should not jump to the conclusion: “my job must change.” Rather our thought should be, God has put me here, and I should now display his worth in this job. Therefore, the burning question for most Christians should be: How can my life count for the glory of God in my secular vocation?
Many people in the secular world enjoy their work and have spent much time learning how to be effective in their field. Why feel that you must step out of the area where you are effective and which you enjoy. You can learn to “make much of God” by how you work in your secular job. Piper says the Bible gives us at least six ways in which a person can make much of God through their secular job:
1. through the fellowship that we enjoy with him throughout the day while at work.
“In other words, we enjoy God’s being there for us as we listen to his voice, and talk to him, and cast all our burdens on him, and experience his guidance and care. Christians do not just go to work. They go to work “with God.” They do not just do a job. They do their job “with God.” God is with them.
2. by imitating God in our creativity and industry.
God is at work and God is a creating, creative God. And He created us in His image to work and to create. As we do so with joy and satisfaction, we make much of Him.
3. by enhancing the portrait of Christ that people hear in the spoken Gospel.
As we share that we are Christians, our fellow employees will be watching to see what that means. How we conduct ourselves at work shows others a glimpse of the picture of Jesus.
4. by earning enough money to keep us from depending on others, while also focusing on how our work helps others.
“This is paradoxical. I am saying, yes, we should earn enough money to meet our needs. But, no, we should not make that the primary focus of why we work. Don’t labor merely with a view to the things you can buy with your earnings. Work with an eye not mainly to your money, but your usefulness. Work with a view to benefiting people with what you make or do. Labor to love people and honor God. Think of new ways that your work can bless people. Stop thinking mainly of profitability, and think mainly of how helpful your product or service can become.”
5. by earning money with the desire to use our money to make others glad in God.
God tells us to work to meet the needs of others. And here is one of my favorite lines about why we should work:
“You can steal to have. Or you can work to have. Or you can work to have to give. When the third option comes from joy in God’s goodness, it makes him look great in the world.”
6. by treating the web of relationships at work as a gift of God and to whom we share the Gospel and offer practical help.
God has placed people around you who need your love and help. Make Him look great to them by loving them and helping them as their workplace pastor.
Your place of employment is your mission field. Will you choose to accept your mission?
(Quotes in today’s post are from Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper)