Hardest Spiritual Lesson #5: Just do your job

Finally, another "hardest spiritual lesson" (here's #4: Thankfulness, #3: Praise, #2: Prunings, and #1: Let Go):

5.  Obediently Doing Your Job and Letting God Do His

Okay now, be honest and raise your hand if you like to lead instead of follow?  To push through with your plans and make things happen?  To set your own rules and goals?  To follow your dreams?  To stand in the spotlight? 

Our world values go-getters and leaders - people who succeed, who make the impossible possible, who dream big dreams and make them come true.  It doesn’t put much value on people who shine the spotlight on someone else, who spend their lives in service to someone else, who work quietly in the background, or who follow and obey what someone else tells them to do.  It doesn’t respect submission, obedience, and following, not nearly as much as it does autonomy, self-reliance, and leading.  

And so the world can’t really understand or value Christians who live for the Lord.  

But God does.

As we grow closer to the Lord and desire Him more and more above anything else, we'll find ourselves wanting more and more to glorify Him and do His Will, to please Him more than ourselves or the world, and we'll care less about the world's opinions of us but more about God's opinions of us.  

But this isn't an easy journey to take because what we want often differs from what God wants for us.  And it can be a long, difficult process to shift from focusing on our plans and goals to focusing on God's plans and goals, from following our way to following God's way, from desiring what we want to desiring what God wants.

For example, I have a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology.  And I had always intended to get out in the world to work before having kids.  But then son #1 came just after our first anniversary, followed two years later by son #2, followed a few years later by son #3, and then son #4 two years after that.  And though my plan was to work for awhile and postpone having kids (and pay down my 40K in student loans and get some use out of my counseling license), that's not what happened.  And I left work very early on to stay home with my sons when #2 came along.  

At first, I felt lost, like I was always supposed to be somewhere else, like I wasn't doing what I was supposed to be doing.  It took me several months to realize "Wait, this is where I'm supposed to be: home.  This is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing: raising my kids.  I don't need to be anywhere else or doing anything else right now.  And it's okay that it's not flashy or glamourous, that the world doesn't acknowledge it, that I'm not getting paid for it.  This is the job God gave me for now, and I'll do it to the best of my ability."

And after that, I couldn't imagine being anywhere else - which was good because we quickly decided to homeschool our children, which meant staying home long term.

So although I could be out in the workplace all these years getting acknowledgement, respect, and income from other people, I am convinced to the core that my place is at home right now, doing nothing more glamorous than raising my children.  Not that working is bad, of course, and it could be a help to others, but I know that God has asked me to lay aside my previous plans in order to do the job that He has asked of me instead.  And for me, that’s just loving and serving my husband, and loving, raising, and homeschooling my children, and being a good Christian friend and neighbor. 

But I’ll admit that it’s been hard at times to accept this “lowly,” overlooked role, to be unappreciated by society, to feel like I'm not really contributing anything at all to the world, to accept the loneliness that comes with being home all day every day, to struggle with doing the same boring jobs every day, and to never feel like I accomplished much because I have to wake up and do the same boring jobs all over again the next day, feeling like I've got nothing to show for all my work and effort.  And I know many people out there feel the same way about their jobs, too. 

But I am learning to be humbly submissive to Him and to do the job that He asks of me, whether it’s big or small.  I am learning to glorify Him with the small, menial tasks of washing dishes again, making meals again, doing laundry again, cleaning off the kitchen table again, and with the small acts like hugging my family, instilling values and knowledge in them, being kind to neighbors, etc.  

The world barely notices the way I try to live in obedience to God, the way I serve God.  But I am learning to be content knowing that He notices.  I am learning to live to please Him.  I am learning to focus simply on what He asks of me and to let Him be concerned with the results of my obedience and how He uses it and how He rewards it.  I am learning to work for eternal rewards instead of temporary ones.  And this is something every Christian can do in life, no matter the roles or jobs they have, especially when you feel like what you do doesn't matter much here on earth.

It might not matter to the world, but it matters to God - and so does the way you do your job and the attitude you do it with.

Colossians 3:23-24: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.  It is Christ you are serving."

1 Cor. 10:31: "... whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

All throughout our life-and-faith journeys, all of us Christians will have to decide who gets to be the leader in our lives, whose plans we're following, whose glory we're working for.  Will we fight for the control and do what we want and make decisions for our pleasure, glory, satisfaction, self-fulfillment?  Or will we seek what God wants, learn to follow His leading, and do what He asks us to do, to the best of our ability, for His glory, no matter how big or small or flashy or exciting?

In a world that's all about "follow your heart" and "do what makes you happy," we don't seem to understand that we don’t have to feel like obeying God in order to do it.  We don't even have to be "happy" about it.  (But our attitude will say a lot about how we really feel about God.)  Obedience is a decision, an act of the will.  And we can do it even if we don't feel like it, even if we don’t understand what God is trying to do, and we can't see the big picture, and we don't know what will happen in the future.  We can obey even when we'd rather be doing something else, even when we're scared or unhappy or angry or confused or feel like our dreams are unfulfilled.  We can obey without feeling like it.  All we have to do to obey is know is what God is telling us to do... and then do it.  

[Ephesians 4:30: "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God..."  And if we don't do what we know He's telling us to do, we'll grieve the Spirit who's trying to lead us right.  We'll get off-track with God and out of His Will, and we'll be taking steps away from Him, which will remove us from His guidance and protective care, opening us up to demonic harassment or oppression.  And when we resist or grieve the Spirit for too long, we might get handed over to ourselves and grow more and more numb to the convictions of the Spirit.  So when you know what God wants you to do, do it as soon as you can.  And if and when you disobey, seek forgiveness and get back on track with Him as soon as you can.  The longer you're in disobedience, the greater the consequences.] 

And though it may not feel like it, it is just as important to faithfully obey in the “small things” as it is in the big ones - if not even more so, because life will be filled with many more "small" jobs than big ones.  

It is crucial to the health of our lives, our relationship with God, our marriages, our families, our workplace, our neighborhoods, our churches, etc., that we are faithful and God-glorifying in the everyday, unglamorous tasks: honoring our marriage vows, cooking, cleaning, raising children, reaching out to the “lowest of the low,” being people of our word, watching our tongues, doing our jobs to the best of our abilities, respecting our spouses, honoring our parents, working hard for our bosses, loving our neighbors, etc.  All of these things are to be done to the best of our ability and for God’s glory, no matter how small and overlooked we feel.  [Matthew 6:6: "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.  Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."] 

In fact, I think that how we do the “small” things is what really testifies about what kind of people we are, what kind of Church we are.  It’s how we do the small things that builds our character and honors God, which builds our Christian families, which builds our churches, which builds future generations, and, therefore, the kingdom of God.  It’s all built on how faithful we are in the little things.  And although the world might not always notice the small things we do well for the Lord, it will definitely notice when we fail to do the small things well, when we blow it.  And it will judge Christianity - and Christ - by it. 

Learning to seek God's glory and be faithfully obedient in everything, even the tiny tasks and small jobs, is not an easy lesson to learn because it often means struggling with our pride, desires, strong wills, independence, self-reliance, old wounds, fears, idols, and resistance to authority.  It often means laying aside (or modifying) our dreams and plans, in favor of His.  It means focusing only on doing our part - not His part, not someone else's part - and letting Him deal with the rest: the things we can't do, the unknown parts, the obstacles, the opposition, the other people, the future, the results, the rewards, etc.  It means learning to wait on Him, instead of rushing ahead.  And it means cultivating an attentive relationship with Him through prayer and the Word, so that we can know what He wants and how we should live, so that we can hear Him when He leads, and so that we can learn to trust Him no matter what.  And this is something we'll all struggle with as we grow in spiritual maturity.

The older I get, the more I want to (and yet often struggle to and fail to) follow Him in humble submission, instead of trying to lead with my own wisdom and desires and efforts and plans.  I want to learn to patiently wait on Him, humbling myself under His hand until He chooses to lift me up in His time and His way (1 Peter 5:6).  I want to be content to faithfully do my daily jobs until He opens the doors He wants open, instead of trying to force something on my own.  

Or as I like to say, “I want to surf, not ski.”  Water-skiing is when we start up our own little motor on a still lake, and we attach our own little rope to the boat, and we cruise around by our own little power, saying, “Hey, look at me.  I’m making things happen.”  But surfing is when we sit quietly with our boards, waiting and watching for when the waves pick up and the conditions are right.  And then we jump on our boards and ride the waves that God brought through His power.  One is about leading and making opportunities, and one is about following and taking opportunities.  And I’m trying to learn to surf instead of ski. 

Obedience is a life-long lesson and journey, one that's really all about how we see ourselves and God.  It’s about if we've learned to trust Him, rely on Him, listen to Him, and wait for Him.  It's about if we remain in Him, if we've learned humility, if we've got our priorities in the right order, and if we put the eternal over the temporary.  

In a word, it's about love, about if we love Him above all.  Whether or not we're willing to obey Him - to do the daily jobs He gave us, to the best of our ability, for His glory, no matter how small the job is or how much we'd rather be doing something else - will tell us more about how we see Him and how much we love Him (and how well our futures will go) than almost anything else in our lives.  

How do I know this? Because...

1 John 5:3: “This is love for God: to obey his commands....” 

John 15:10: “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”

Luke 11:28: “[Jesus] replied, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.’”

Jeremiah 7:23: “but I gave them this command:  Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people.  Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you.”

So how are you doing with obeying God in whatever He asks of you, in the daily jobs He gives you, however big or small?  Do you care more about pleasing Him than pleasing the world or yourself?  Do you care more about what He thinks of you than what the world thinks of you?  Do you want His Will above your own?  Do you find your fulfillment in Him, instead of in the world or in yourself?  Are you more concerned with gaining eternal heavenly treasures than temporary earthly pleasures?  Do you love and trust God enough that you can focus on doing your part (the jobs He gave you) to the best of your ability, for His glory, while letting Him do His part (handling everything else)?  (If you struggle in this area, talk it over with Him.  He'll help you sort it out.)

Have you ever read C.D. Lewis's The Great Divorce?  (You should!)  I suspect that those who had the lowliest, most non-flashy, non-exciting, behind-the-scenes roles here on earth - and yet who faithfully obeyed anyway, for God's glory - will shine the brightest in heaven: the Sarah Smiths of The Great Divorce who didn't get the attention, appreciation, accolades, awards, satisfaction here on earth that others got (those in the flashier, more exciting, more public, more satisfying roles) because they were working for eternity, not the temporary.  Their rewards for faithfully doing the jobs God gave them - without complaining, with grace and gratitude, to the best of their ability, for God's pleasure and glory and purposes - were deposited into their account in heaven, to be enjoyed for all of eternity.  A great pay-off for having your priorities straight, for putting God first!  

So never despise your lowly, common, boring position, if that's where God has you.  Don't grieve too much the loss of a dream or goal you once had for yourself.  Don't resent or gripe about the chance of plans He brings or the small, monotonous jobs He gives you.  Just do your best at it for God's glory.  You're not really working for your boss or spouse or parents or kids or society or whoever anyway.  You're not working to get appreciated or rewarded by people.  You're not working to push your own agendas or make your own dreams happen.  

You're working for the Lord!  

Are you a teacher?  Be the best teacher you can be, for God's glory.  Are you a plumber?  Be the best plumber you can be, for God's glory.  Are you a doctor... a pastor... a maintenance/cleaning person... a blue-collar worker... a white-collar worker... a mother or father... a husband or wife... a son or daughter... a neighbor or friend?  

Be the best you can be, for His glory.  He sees what you do - and how and why you do it - even if no one else does.  He appreciates your faithful service, especially if it's in the midst of hardship, pain, sacrifice, or persecution.  And He will reward you accordingly, just not fully until heaven.  But those will be the rewards that matter and last, the ones worth having.  

Be a Sarah Smith.  It'll be worth it eternally.  

1 Cor. 15:58: "... Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."

Col. 3:17: "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

John 6:27: "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life..."

Matt. 5:16: "In the same way, let your light shine before all men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

Matthew 6:19-21: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”