More Significant Than What You Do? Who You Work For.

God created us to work. We cannot just go through the motions of work—we must bring our heads and our hearts to work every day. I explore this idea in the excerpt below, from my book The Gospel Goes to Work.

“The gospel is like a caged lion. It does not need to be defended, it simply needs to be let out of its cage.”  —Charles Spurgeon

WHO YOU WORK for is more significant than what you do or where you work. That’s a radical statement, I know. But I mean something perhaps different than what you are thinking at first glance. I am actually just paraphrasing what the apostle Paul says to workers in the first century, and I believe it applies to every worker doing any kind of work today—“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

Any worker doing any kind of work in any kind of setting can be a gospel carrier when you realize that you are really working for Christ. Not for your earthly boss. Not for yourself and your family. Not for your colleagues or your customers. Not for the bonus. But instead, ultimately, for Jesus Himself.

I recently listened as a friend pondered the question—what exactly makes any work gospel-minded work? Is it the product being sold? Is it that the overt gospel is shared and people come to marked faith at work? Is it a certain culture of values and beliefs encasing the organization? If you give someone a glass of water but don’t share the gospel is there any gospel activity taking place? We will get to all those but any work becomes gospel work when any worker “is working as unto Jesus.”

A gospel-centered life is a way, not a destination or particular address. And gospel-minded work starts with my mindset, my motivation, and my allegiance. Every Christian’s job description bears an appendix-staking claim by the gospel of Jesus.

It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

That perspective changes our sense of purpose in our work life. It changes our motivation for working. It changes our attitude toward our job, both when things are going well and when they aren’t. It changes our hopes and dreams about work. It reshapes and redeems what we hope to accomplish.

God intended our lives to be lives of work. Learn more about the relationship of the gospel and work by ordering your copy of The Gospel Goes to Work here.