“Work.” Something comes to mind when you hear this word, maybe a groan. Many aspects of life are considered work: cleaning, studying, your job, a project, washing clothes, teaching Sunday school.
In Colossians 3:23-24 Paul wrote, “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.” If we could truly grasp this thought, it would change much about how we do life. Human beings tend toward expending minimal effort and have a great propensity to justify lackadaisical output. If we receive the same paycheck at work whether we try or not, we may choose the easy route. Whatever our task at hand, however, we are always serving Christ. He knows how much effort we’re putting in and what the truth is about our situation, despite our attempts to justify.
A few years earlier, Paul wrote, “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on the immortality. . . . ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ . . . But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain”(1 Corinthians 15:51-58). A description of the service the Lord wants from us doesn’t include the terms, “convenient, sometimes, once-in-a-while, as-little-as-possible.” Ministry is service for the King of kings, work with eternal consequences for us and for those whom the ministry affects.
Perhaps you think that you don’t need to serve at church because others can do it. Chances are, however, that you have little idea all that needs to be done and what others are already doing. Nehemiah 4:6 is a beautiful reminder of what can be accomplished when God’s people are willing to work: “So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.”
That menial task which pays minimum wage—do your best at it for the Lord, even if your boss doesn’t notice. The boring assignment which seems a waste of time—do your best at it for the Lord. This isn’t pie-in-the-sky pep talk—it’s the Word of God. That ministry which perhaps nobody will even know you had a part in? “Be steadfast, . . . always abounding in the work of the Lord.”