Devoted: God at work
This week’s blog post has been written by Becky Webb. Becky leads the children’s work at Jubilee and is part of the teaching team for Jubilee Bible School.
In the Devoted series we have been looking at how being devoted to God means passionately pursuing Him in all areas of our lives; being wholehearted in everything that God gives us to do because He is utterly devoted to us – He’s our devoted Father.
What does it mean to be devoted to God at work?
God’s view of our work is not just traditional ‘employment’, but anything we do that grows and develops all the potential God has put inside of us. This includes creativity in its widest sense, raising a family, investing in others, taking part in sport, learning in school or college, growing community. It also means developing the world around us and everything God has put in it.
Being devoted to God at work really matters. The point is not that some things in our week are spiritual and some are ‘secular’. The question is whether we do things for the glory of God or not – to bring His Lordship and kingdom into everything.
I love The Message version of Romans 12:1, “Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it.”
Being devoted to God at work involves all of us taking our everyday, ordinary moments and placing them before God as an offering; communicating, demonstrating and celebrating the supremacy of Christ in every corner of culture.
Reform not conform
The message of Romans 12 is ‘do not conform’- our job is to reform, to bring change, to transform. We’re not to be intimidated by the culture of the world – we don’t change it by becoming like it but by bringing the kingdom of God into every area of life He’s connected us to.
This makes Monday morning the most important day of the week. We get to gather as church on Sunday, getting filled up, encouraged and envisioned; and then we go – to the people and places that would otherwise have no experience of Jesus, His presence, His compassion, His healing, His love.
That’s what it means to be devoted to God at work – offering our ordinary life and watching to see what God does to transform the people and culture around us.
Thank you Becky. You can hear the talk that Becky gave on this topic here: Podcast
