Your Work Matters to God: It’s the Means to Many Ends

The Question of Purpose

Does God care about the work we do each day? Does our work serve any purpose of his? Does it matter to him? This kickoff series of 2016 answers these questions with a resounding YES!

The principles in this series (and on Marketplace Faith) rest on a chain of assumptions:

1. There is a God.
2. His personality, values, and standards are knowable.
3. The Bible is an accurate guide to this God.
4. Jesus is the supreme revelation of this God.
5. The God we meet in Jesus is quite content to mix up his agenda and work with the mess and struggle of our world.

I am aware some of my readers may not share all these assumptions. But I hope you find here an interesting and comprehensive perspective on the realities and meaning of our daily work.

Means and Ends

In this post the answer to the “why does it matter” question is this: our work is the means to many ends. The following 4 verses, show 4 of them.

1. End #1: Our personal sustenance

Even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “Those unwilling to work will not get to eat.” 2 Thessalonians 3:10)

2. End #2: The material needs of our family members

 But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers (1 Timothy 5:8)

3. End #3: The material needs of the poor

Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need (Ephesians 4:28)

4. End #4: The livelihood of those whose calling is full-time Christian work.

In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel (1 Corinthians 9:14)

So our work produces income, and God has purposes for that income—purposes that go from our individual needs to his spiritual work in the world.

Your work matters because it generates a resource stream that powers the purposes of God in the world.  

How About You?

Which ends are you in alignment with, which ends need more development?

Photo: https://pixabay.com/en/hands-two-palms-light-hand-in-hand-1044882/