Your Work is Spiritual and Supports your Life

Work is our second vocation, after prayer. We work to support our lives and families. Work is spiritual. Do it, together with all things, as if it was for the Lord. Do it prayerfully. Give your work attention and care. Work with integrity and grace.

The opening pages of the BibThe opening pages of the Bible reveal that our God works. It begins with the work of God making creation and all things. Likewise, Jesus is understood to have been a carpenter before His ministry began. As we follow the way of Jesus, we will find ourselves working. All work is spiritual work. It is work that we can do together with God. Watch as our work makes a difference before our eyes. We work and co-create with our God.

Find meaning and value in the work you give yourself to. Our work will be one of the places we spend most of our lives. Prepare for this work and learn the skills needed. Be honorable and honest in the work we do. Remember that everyone we meet is made in the image of God. Each person is worthy of grace and compassion. May the peace of Christ be yours amidst the stress and pressure that work can bring.

Whenever we are paid, we give praise to God for our provision. We use the money earned with wisdom, and allow this money to care for ourselves and our families. We rejoice whenever we share in God’s joy through our acts of generosity. For all our work gives us, we must be careful not to let it become us. We are not our work. Each of us is a child of God, and Jesus has prepared a place for us. Live your life to build up treasures in heaven.

Work is spiritual. It is not to be neglected or demeaned. Approach it with a grateful heart. Yet, every kind of work is less than the work of prayer and fasting. Let us not allow the work we do hinder the works of our greater vocation of prayer.

May Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.

• Reflect on how you have experienced God’s presence with you in your work.
• As God invites us into His presence, how do you invite God to be present with you as you work?
• Contemplate the unseen ways our God is with you while you work.
• Meditate on how you believe God views work in general, and your work specifically.
• Celebrate that your work gives you a wage to afford to live.
• Meditate on the ways God’s generosity and graciousness towards you empower you to be generous and gracious with others at work.
• Reflect back on your life and focus on the ways God has walked and journeyed with you to your current work.
• Reflect on how you balance the demands of prayer/fasting and your work.
• Contemplate the ways God has given you the gifts and capacity to do your work.
• Celebrate the co-creating work you get to do with God through your work.
• Grieve the ways your work makes prayer and your walk with Jesus more difficult.
• Meditate on how you understand yourself as doing your work as if for the Lord (Colossians 3:23).
• Pray that God would help you experience His presence and pleasure in all parts of your work.
• Reflect on the ways your colleagues have embodied the person of Jesus or the Fruit of the Spirit.
• How has praying before your shift impacted the way you embody the Fruit of the Spirit at work?
• What does it look like at work to treat each person with grace and compassion?