This is from Proverbs. Verse 5 is one of a few verses that have really struck me today. It just reminds how easily work can be made into something it isn't supposed to be. Working just for the sake of making more money is futile. Working out of enjoyment for the work and to bring God glory through your workmanship, that is where the value of work lies.
There are days when I work, and I LOVE to work, especially in my current job where I could just completely immerse myself in the joy of doing surgery all day (I know that sounds weird and kind of gross to a lot of people). But there are other days where I kind of wish I did something a bit more creative maybe even a little more mundane... this will probably sound ridiculous, but when I think of working just for the pure enjoyment of creating and creating to the glory of Christ, I think of building cabinets and furniture.
There is something so simply and obviously God-glorifying in that work. When the workmanship is top notch, the connections are finely measured and precisely cut, the surface perfectly sanded and the result as the aesthetically pleasing, the satisfaction that results rivals any successful life-saving surgery I've ever had the joy of being part of. That I think is the point.
The work that we are given to do doesn't have inherent value because we are making money or gaining notoriety. Our work has value that comes from the quality that is added to it. The workmanship itself can and should be a form of worship of our Heavenly Father.
Today tomorrow and Tuesday I will fly fish for trout. I don't fish to relax, although I'm sure I will experience a degree of relaxation from it, but I will cast my fly lines into rivers and creeks with joy and the most skilll and precision I can muster, not out of duty but because it's beautiful. When I leisure, I will leisure to the glory of God. When I work, I will work to the glory of God. And in this, while I work and leisure unto the Creator, I bring Him glory, and in His glory I revel like a prisoner given leave of his chains to run through green meadows and enjoy sunlight without the tethers of his crimes. This is freedom and this is joy to serve, to work, to leisure to glorify God!
No comments:
Post a Comment