Let’s review four differences between work and jobs. First, your job may employ none of your gifts; your work employs all your gifts. Second, your job will inevitably result in income; your work may never result in income. Third, there is always someone else who can do your job; there is never anyone else who can do your work. And fourth, your job may sometimes produce frustration; your work will most often produce fruit.
But now, let’s consider two other differences in your job and your work.
Jobs come to an end. Either you retire, walk away from the job, or the job is eliminated. If your self-worth is linked to your job, then the loss or end of a job can be devastating, and it is to many people.
Work, however, has no termination age. There’s no 65-year cut-off point for your work. Retirement from work is retirement from life, and it is not scheduled by men but by God.
Your work may and most likely will take some turns and changes as you progress through life. But I think of elderly Christians who are no longer physically able to do many of the things they did for the Lord earlier in their lives. Their work has changed, and now they are marvelous prayer warriors, doing the most important of all work.
Many think the ultimate in life would be to have a job that becomes our work, so what we do every day to enable us to earn a living is the same thing God has called us to do and gifted us to do for his glory. But let me tell you, that rarely happens, and that’s because it doesn’t fit into God’s plan for reaching the world. He’s left us in this world to be his salt and light, and that means we need to mingle in the marketplace where the people are. That means we need jobs to get us in there, so we can do the work God has called us to do, in many cases.
Most of us will find it necessary to continue committing large portions of our lives to a job that does not fully define or fulfill us. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be successful at our work. Our jobs and our work don’t have to be in competition. In fact, when we’re in right relationship with God’s plan for our lives, they will not be in competition.
Now, you may be thinking, “You mean, I can’t expect to find a job I really love?” No, that’s not what I mean. If we’re smart, we’ll educate ourselves and do everything we can to match our jobs with our talents and strengths, so that they are not working against our gifts.
For example, my last business job was to make training presentations. Not only do I enjoy making presentations, but in the process of doing my job, I was trained to do my work better. I enjoyed my job, though I would not have voluntarily done it if there was not a need to make money. However, that job was a tool in God’s hands to prepare me for my work and to touch other lives I would never have touched otherwise.
And then the other great truth of Scripture is when we are walking with Jesus, everything we do can be done for his glory. No matter what job we have, as Christians we can do it to God’s glory, and it becomes meaningful and purposeful.
I think of one of my listeners who used to work in a large bakery, doing rather repetitive work, which could be described as unchallenging and unfulfilling. But this woman viewed her place of employment as her Jerusalem where she was to take God’s good news. And God gave her incredible opportunities to witness to many people, including executives in the company.
I never knew her to complain about the lack of fulfillment in her job, though I’m sure there were days she got bored with the routine. She went to work each morning to see what exciting thing God would do through her that day, and she didn’t occupy her
