“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 the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23, 24
As I thought about Labor Day, this was the first verse on the subject that came to mind. Many times through the years, I have repeated this verse to myself. Maybe my boss asked me to do something that wasn’t my favorite way to spend my time. Or maybe the whole job was less than completely fulfilling for me and I wished myself elsewhere during my working hours. It’s in those times that this verse has encouraged me to give the job my all, even if I didn’t feel like it. As I started to really dig into this verse, the first thing that struck me is that this isn’t talking about a job. Whatever you do. Period. It doesn’t say on the job, and it doesn’t seem to indicate that you’re doing it to receive a monetary wage. Whatever you do. Preparing a meal. Mowing the grass. Cleaning the house. Caring for grandchildren. Driving the car. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing. Whatever it is, do it with your entire being. Throw yourself completely into the work. Why should we do that? Why should we be so dedicated to excellence and productivity? Because we’re not doing it for any other human, or even for ourselves. We’re doing it for God.
The next thing I realized as I studied this verse is that we won’t receive an inheritance IF we work hard. We’re receiving the inheritance. Because of that, we should be willing to work hard for God. I think I’ve always had this backwards. I thought that if I work hard, God will reward me. I’m doing this thing that I don’t really like doing, but that’s okay because God’s going to reward me for doing it and doing it well. That’s pretty self-centered thinking. That makes it all about me and really, it’s all about God, just as it should be. We have received salvation through Jesus Christ as our inheritance. Jesus is the Son of God and when we receive Him, we become a member of Christ’s holy family. Therefore, our salvation is our inheritance. We don’t work for it, we can’t earn it. It’s given as a free gift of God’s grace. Because of that, I should be willing to throw my whole being into whatever it is God has for me to do.
When we view these verses in context, we see that Paul was talking about how families should relate with one another, then switches rather abruptly to talking about slaves’ obedience to their earthly masters. Then comes the verses quoted above. So this isn’t just when we’re performing a less than enjoyable chore, or even working in a job that is not ideal. This applies when we find our lives to be not at all what we envisioned. “I think I want to be enslaved to another,” said no one, ever. Even in those times, when it seems that life is horrible, we are to remember that life isn’t horrible. It’s the best that it could be because we’ve received this amazing inheritance from a loving, caring Heavenly Father. As we approach the work God has for us to do, whatever it is, let’s remember to do it fully, completely, and joyfully as an act of worship to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.