Work Ethic

I like to think of how I do my work as my "mark". It says something about me. If I consistently only washed half of the dishes, or left the laundry in the washer for days, you would get the impression that I didn't care too incredibly much about doing a good job. On the other hand, if you walked into my kitchen and saw the sink and counters clean and tidy, or into the laundry room and saw the laundry washed, dried, folded, and waiting for its owners to come and put it away, you would rightly think I cared about doing my best work. This is a bit tricky for me, as I have truly struggled with being a perfectionist in the past.     (Here is one thing you need to know about perfectionists: a person who is a perfectionist wants to do it perfectly the first time, and if they can't, they will tend to just not do whatever it is. So to say that a perfectionist's home is perfect all the time is a lie. You may be surprised by how many "messy" people are truly perfectionists that are overwhelmed with the task before them! Yet, it can be overcome when we have a biblical work ethic! )

Ok...back to my post. I care about doing my best work. Our house is by no means perfectly clean, but i have learned to be content with tidy and "lived-in". We have 4 kids and 2 dogs, so "lived-in" is doable. And yes, this was a hard adjustment for me! We do the best job we can.

I have a couple verses from the Bible that have long been go-to verses for me regarding how and why I do my work, and I share them with our children often to remind them too. Here they are:

Colossians 3:22-24:  Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.  {emphasis mine}

Ephesians 6:7-8: With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.

Both of these sets of verses directs our service to be done for the Lord, and as for the Lord. What a great focus for our serving. With these truths to guide us, you would think we would always do our work with excellence, giving glory to God. Unfortunately, we don't. We grumble. We complain. We do it, but we want everyone to know how unhappy we are about having to do it. Or, worse, we do it so that we can get noticed. We do it so that we can receive thanks and recognition. Teaching our children the important truths here is challenging when we ourselves don't live them out. 

So, from these two passages, how are we to do our work? What should our work ethic look like? Well, I see a few things here: 

• We are to do our work heartily (in an enthusiastic and energetic way; completely or fully {Merriam Webster}).

• We are to do our work unto the Lord. I often wonder how different my attitude would be if Christ Jesus was standing right there next to me. And then i remember ~ He is.

• We are to do our work NOT as men-pleasers, but with a sincere heart (sincere: free from pretense or deceit; proceeding from genuine feelings. {from google}) Ouch.

• We are to do our work as fearing the Lord. Matthew Henry has this to say about it: "Those who fear God, will be just and faithful when from under their master's eye, because they know they are under the eye of God." 

• We are to do our work with good will. I think of this as doing it with the right attitude, with a joy-filled heart. Doing our work out of gratitude for all that Christ Jesus has done for us. And yes, this even applies to the tenth load of laundry this week. 

• We are to do our work knowing that, even if no one here recognizes or thanks us, Christ sees and will give us the reward of our inheritance. We will "receive back from the Lord". What a motivation for our service! 

Wow! Take a look at that again. We have every reason to be joy-filled workers! I pray that as you go on this week, that these verses can encourage you to press on and keep serving where ever it is that God has placed you; whether in the corporate world or the home, the church or the factory, in your school work or in your work place.  When people see the way we do our work, if we are doing it from a biblical work ethic, they just may want to know why we care so much... which can wonderfully lead to an opportunity to share the hope of Christ that we have. 

May God be glorified in our serving! 

Turn up the Heat

The book of Romans is amazing. Well, the whole Bible is amazing! In reading Romans lately, i am struck by chapter 1. We could start at the beginning, but i am going to share verse 16 here:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 

Let's define ashamed, compliments of dictionary.com:

• Ashamed - 1. feeling shame; distressed or embarrassed by feelings of guilt,foolishness, or disgrace. 2. unwilling or restrained because of fear of shame, ridicule, or disapproval.

This is loaded. Paul says he is NOT ASHAMED to preach the gospel! He is not embarrassed, nor unwilling to preach because of fear.  Why should he be? He himself knew the transforming power of the gospel in his own life, and his primary concern was that people HEAR the GOOD NEWS!

Paul did not molly-coddle his hearers. NO! He spoke with authority, and challenged the "wisdom" of his day. Not once did he apologize for what Christ had done to redeem us. Not once did he state that people can remain in open, or private, habitual sin and still maintain that they are Christ-one's. Yes, Paul acknowledges that we still sin, but the difference is that we are grieved over our sin and are moved to repentance. we do NOT remain in sin.  


Can we, in all honesty, say that we are NOT ashamed of the gospel of Christ? I wonder. Do we capitulate to our culture? Do we quiet down or water down the gospel to make it more palatable to people? Are we preaching a Christ-centered gospel, or a man-centered gospel?

The days of tip-toeing through the tulips have got to be OVER. The darkness is getting very dark indeed. People are calling evil good, and good evil, just as the Bible said they would in Isaiah 5:20-21 - "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!  Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight!". If someone dare call evil, evil they are labeled a hater or intolerant. Guess what? Calling evil, evil is exactly what we must do! And we must hold out the offer of hope that is found in Jesus Christ alone. In order to hold out that hope, we must not be ashamed of preaching the gospel.

There are those out there that are polluting the Gospel. They add to or subtract from the Good News. we are saved by grace through faith alone. Why would you want to take away from the Good News? Why add to the cross of Christ (which you can't do in reality)?
Preach the gospel... without shame and with boldness! Do not be afraid of what others may say.

Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God".  


Galations 1:9  "as we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed."

for all of us...

this thought came to me last night as i was praying for my children, and i am now praying it for all of us, as Christ-ones.

   Hold Fast. Stand Strong. Stay True.

May we all Hold Fast to the Word of God. May it be our guide, and may we know it so well, that we can recognize the counterfeit.

Your word is a lamp to my feet
 And a light to my path.  Psalm 119:105

May we all Stand Strong in the days of adversity. When we are going through tough times. When we want to live by our feelings. When everything seems to be going wrong. May we be strengthened in the inner man, in Christ Jesus. May we have our feet firmly planted on the Rock of Christ.

 ¹⁶ that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory,
to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,
¹⁷ that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; Ephesians 3:16-17a

May we all Stay True to the call of God on our lives. May we not fall prey to false doctrines, or half-truths that are making their way in to some of the churches today. May we be like Stephen, and Stay True no matter what the cost.

When they heard these things they were cut to the heart,
and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 
But he, being full of the Holy Spirit,
gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God,
 and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 
and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened
 and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
  Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears,
and ran at him with one accord;
 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him.
And the witnesses laid down their clothes
 at the feet of a young man named Saul. 
And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying,
 “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice,
 “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.”
And when he had said this, he fell asleep.  Acts 7:54-60

I pray you were encouraged as you read that :)