What God Expects From You At Work—Part 3

Back to Work SignWhen the groom ran out of wine at a wedding feast, Jesus stepped in to help meet the need. See John 2:1-12.

To the meet the needs Jesus turned a lot of water into a lot of wine.

One would think turning water into wine would be significant enough, but the apostle John  makes a point to describe the excellence of the wine. See John 2:10.

John says it was customary to serve the bad wine later after people were sufficiently liquored up not to notice, but Jesus served  excellent wine when He could have served any wine.

In short, when Jesus assumed a vocational role He made sure His work was excellent.  It was the same in his ministry. After healing one man, those in attendance remarked, “Behold he does all things well.” Mark 7:37.

Just as Jesus did excellent work, Christians are to do excellent work.  Excellence is required because by doing excellent work we ensure God’s purpose is achieved in meeting the needs of others through our work.

When Martin Luther was asked by a recently converted cobbler what he should now do with his life, Luther replied famously, “Make a good shoe and sell it at a fair price.”  Luther’s point was that God meets the needs of the shoeless through the work of the cobbler.

In the same way, the Lord meets the needs of others through the work that you do. The Bible calls the Church “the body of Christ” because it is the earthly manifestation of Jesus. I Cor. 12:27. Jesus is at the right hand of the Father waiting for those exercising His delegated authority on earth to manage the planet and expand His Kingdom. God meets your need for food through the farmer and grocer, your need for clothes through the clothing manufacturer and retailer, and your need to be productive through programmers and technology companies.

If you do sloppy work, the need God wants to meet through your work may be only partially met, or not at all, and if the need is not fully met the purpose for which you do your work is not fulfilled.

Principle #2: Doing your work excellently achieves God purpose in your work. GS

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