I would like to begin by sharing with you a little bit from our devotion in our staff meeting this morning. We were talking about how the Resurrection of Jesus compels us to do better work in our daily lives, and how in light of the Gospel, what we do here and now will have lasting and eternal purpose. Here are a few points that I wrote down during our conversation that stood out to me:
"The work you do is not meaningless, it is done for the Lord."
"Your work is not in vain if you work for God's purpose and His glory."
"What you do now will matter in God's future."
"Think, live, and feel in light of the resurrection."
When I think about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I think about an empty tomb, new life, Easter egg hunts at church, etc., but I never thought about the most important thing of all when it comes to the resurrection, and that is the implications of our everyday lives and the work that we do. Specifically, our work and our jobs.
I can remember a few years back when I was not being intentional about perusing a relationship with Jesus Christ that I dreaded going to work some days. My boss frustrated me, certain people got on my nerves, and I felt like I was doing the same thing over and over again every single day. I was tired, and then one day, all of that changed.
One day, as I sat in the park listening to a sermon by Rick Warren, I heard him say, "The work that you do is for the Lord, therefore, everything that you do should be for His glory and not your own." This one statement changed things for me because it changed my mindset. It made me realize that I am not here working for myself or just to pay the bills, but instead, I am working for the glory of God, and I am a representation of Him. This changed things for me because now I wanted to make Him proud, and I wanted people to see Him in me, so I put more effort into doing my job well. I also put more effort into loving on the people that I work with, and in turn our relationships blossomed and got better. It changed things for me because I no longer dreaded going to work every day, but instead I looked forward to it as an opportunity to build God's kingdom.
So, with that being said, I would just like to remind you today of what our devotion reminded me of this morning, and that is that the Lord’s work is never in vain because Jesus rose from the grave, and everything that we do in His name gives glory and honor to Him. This is the reward family, and this is why we do our best.