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Sadly, there are many people in churches today who are absolutely certain they’ve received salvation, when the truth is, they’ve embraced an inaccurate or incomplete gospel. Or, they’ve heard the true gospel, but there’s no evidence of a transformed life. Could one of those scenarios describe you? John MacArthur helps clear up misconceptions about salvation in his classic study called Salvation Survey.

Theologian Dorothy Sayers once wrote, “Work is not primarily a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do.”

That challenges the way many of us think about our jobs. We often see work primarily as a way to earn a paycheck, provide for our families, or make it to retirement. But Scripture gives us a much bigger vision.

From the first pages of the Bible to the last, Scripture does not present work as a necessary evil. It is woven into what it means to bear God's image. And whether our work is paid or unpaid, public or unnoticed, Scripture invites us to offer it to God as an act of worship.

Sometimes we speak about work as though it were a consequence of the fall. But work existed before sin ever entered the world. Genesis 2:15 says, “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”

Adam was given meaningful responsibility in a world God repeatedly called good. Work was part of humanity’s original purpose.

What changed after the fall was not the existence of work but our experience of it. Genesis 3 describes thorns and thistles, painful toil, and the frustration that would now accompany human labor. Work remained good, but it became difficult.

We still experience those thorns today: projects that fail, difficult coworkers, exhaustion, inefficiency, layoffs, broken systems, and days when our efforts seem to produce very little fruit.

Yet Scripture’s story does not end there. Redemption reaches every part of our lives, including how we understand and practice our work.

And the Bible’s final picture is not one of eternal inactivity. Revelation 22 says that God’s servants will serve Him and “reign forever and ever.” The world to come is marked by meaningful service under the rule of Christ.

Work was good in the beginning, and meaningful service remains part of the future God is preparing for His people.

One of Scripture’s most striking pictures of work appears in Exodus 31. When God commands Israel to build the tabernacle, He chooses a man named Bezalel for the task. God says: 

“I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship.” - Exodus 31:3

That is remarkable. The first person Scripture explicitly describes as being “filled” with the Spirit of God is not being equipped to preach a sermon or lead an army. He is being equipped to create.

Bezalel would work with gold, silver, bronze, stone, wood, and fabric. His craftsmanship mattered because God Himself had entrusted that work to him. That should expand the way we think about serving God.

Faithfulness is not limited to what happens inside a church building. A teacher grading papers, an accountant reviewing numbers, a carpenter building a home, a parent caring for children, or a volunteer serving meals can all honor God through faithful work.

God cares not only that work gets done, but also how it gets done.

Paul makes this explicit in Colossians 3:23–24: 

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men…You are serving the Lord Christ.”

Notice the breadth of those words: “Whatever you do.” That means no tasks are insignificant just because they seem ordinary. The spreadsheet matters. The dishes matter. The phone call matters. The diaper change matters. The meeting matters. The quiet act of caring for an aging parent matters.

Not because every task is glamorous, but because we can offer every task to Christ. That changes our motivation.

We no longer have to work primarily for applause, recognition, promotion, or comparison. Excellence can become an act of love rather than a strategy for proving our worth.

Our value does not rise and fall with our job title. Our identity is secure in Christ. That freedom allows us

Once bitten, twice shy - as the saying goes. That’s never truer than when you’ve been attacked for your faith. Chip explains a simple method for rebuilding that confidence after you’ve taken a beating for your faith.

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We were made for connection, but relationships don’t always come easy. In today’s conversation, Debra Fileta breaks down the “seasons” (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter) that relationships naturally go through. She provides practical tools and encouragement to help us tend to our relationships well, ultimately guiding us to follow Christ’s example of love first.

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Improve Your Sex Life to Improve Your Marriage -- A great sex life is something you make, not something you find.This exclusive free video series contains research-backed strategies for improving sexual satisfaction and communication that have already helped thousands of couples experience greater mutual pleasure and closeness than ever before.

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Do you have a story or comment on how Focus on the Family impacted you or your family? Leave a message for Jim Daly!

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This life contains many walks from Cana to Capernaum. Journeys between prayer offered and prayer answered. Jesus promised the boy’s father a sure blessing at the end of the journey. He promises the same to us.

We will meet this father when we get to heaven, and when we do I’m gonna ask him about that walk. I want to hear how he felt. I want to know what he thought. But most of all, I want to thank him for inspiring this verse: “The man took Jesus at his word and departed” (John 4:50 NIV).

Do likewise. Set your compass on the pole star of God’s promise. Place one weary foot in front of the other. Jesus has spoken. Let his word do what it was intended to do, and that is lead you home. Remember my friend, you are never alone.

Read more You Are Never Alone: Trust in the Miracle of God's Presence & Power

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Everyone who has failed hopes for a second chance and a new name. Paul met a runaway slave named Onesimus and led him to Jesus. In this message from the book of Philemon, Pastor Lutzer explains how the Gospel makes the useless useful. What would it mean for our debts to be charged to someone else's account?

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Moody Church Media [https://www.moodymedia.org/], home of "Running To Win," exists to bring glory to God through the transformation of lives.

Erwin W. Lutzer is Pastor Emeritus of The Moody Church in Chicago, where he served as Senior Pastor for 36 years. He is a prolific author of over seventy books. A clear expositor of the Bible, he is the featured speaker on "Running To Win" and "Songs In The Night," with programs broadcasting on over a thousand outlets in the U.S. and across more than fifty countries in seven languages. He and his wife, Rebecca, live in the Chicago area. They have three grown children and eight grandchildren.

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