Value In Work
If you work to earn a living - which most of us do - you probably spend about 50% of your waking hours at work. There's more significance to work life than many realize, as Dr. Richard Bouch explains this week.
Ernie
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Marketplace Ambassador Network
Breakfast at the Grill on the Hill
Tuesday, May 9, 7:00 to 8:15 am
Value In Work
By Dr. Richard Bouch
Work is a major part of our lives, and it gives people some of their sense of value and purpose. That's not surprising, as God designed us to work.
Work is a major part of our lives, and it gives people some of their sense of value and purpose. That's not surprising, as God designed us to work.
The modern work environment is complex. Your work may be more or less satisfying than someone else's, your employment security better or worse than another's, your pay higher or lower than another's. Work, family, and necessary tasks press us for time and energy. For many of us, satisfaction and dissatisfaction jostle shoulder to shoulder.
Probably you already have an opinion about the value of your work. But ask God to show you where He sees the value in your work. Know that He sees value in morally and ethically decent work. Hold on to the Biblical truth that God created work to be a valuable joint effort between Him and us: at the beginning of the record of His transactions with human beings, "the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it" (Genesis 2: 15). The world needs work to be done for good purposes, not bad ones; and it needs the work to be done well. God appreciates our efforts to do that. Get busy internalizing that truth and letting God bring it to life. As that happens, applying ourselves to the day's work becomes easier, and satisfaction increases. Those are byproducts, of course - our priority remains to work in a way that honors God.
A WORK PRAYER
Lord, my hands can reach out to You in prayer. I also use them to work. My mind reaches out to You and is transformed by Your Word. I also use my mind at work. My life flows from You, and without life there would be no work. Please help me to understand how prayerfulness and work combine to produce something of value in Your sight. And help me to think clearly about the role of work in daily living. Amen.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. How does the fact that God designed us to work affect the way you view your work?
2. What are some ways that viewing work as a joint effort with God can change your work habits?
This WorkLife SwitchTOOL was written by Dr. Richard Bouch. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Content edited and distributed by WorkLife.org for non-profit educational purposes.
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