The best example
If you have read Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, you are now ready for an example of how understanding the role of work in the kingdom of God can change everything. That example is the life of Jesus.
Jesus has just finished walking for six hours, likely from 15-18 miles from Judea to Samaria. He’s exhausted, hungry, and probably sweaty and dirty. He sends the disciples into the nearby city to get food, and He waits by the well.
While He’s waiting, a woman shows up to get water. Jesus uses the opportunity to read her mail and then witness to her. She goes back into the city and returns with others.
Called work is energizing and sustaining
About this time, the disciples return and try to give Jesus some food. Jesus says He has food they don’t know about. The disciples start talking amongst themselves about whether one of them already gave Jesus food. Jesus then helps the disciples, who aren’t getting what He’s saying:
My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish the work He has given me to do. — John 4:34
Think about it: Jesus is exhausted and hungry, but He is saying that doing the work He was called to do is like food—it is sustaining, energizing, and satisfying. Have you ever started doing something in the morning and been so engrossed that you look up at 3:00 p.m., realize you haven’t eaten, and you don’t really care? That’s what it’s like.
Dealing with the challenges of work
But it’s even deeper than that because Jesus was teaching for three years while the experts in His field opposed Him and even were trying to kill Him. Once they tried to grab Him and throw Him off a cliff. Talk about workplace stress.
On top of that, Jesus would end up being tried, beaten, and crucified. And yet Jesus still said doing the work He had been given by the Father — His calling—was like food to Him.
Here is the point: there are parts of every job that are unpleasant and stressful. That is life in a fallen world. There is only one workplace where there is no stress and that is a morgue. And I’m not talking about the job of the undertaker. I’m talking about the person in the casket.
But when we know that what we are doing is a calling from God, it becomes endurable, even energizing, satisfying, and fulfilling. The circumstances may not change, but the meaning of the work changes. The work also becomes something that glorifies God.
The goal of work in the Kingdom
As Jesus said to the Father at the end of His earthly ministry:
I have glorified You by completing the work You have given me to do. — John 17:4
Notice that Jesus said He had glorified God by completing the work He had been given to do. That is the thing about a calling—it is bespoke. We don’t glorify God by completing someone else’s calling but by completing the work He has given us to do.
When we approach our work as a career choice, a long “successful” career ends up as nothing more than a glorified resume. Our goal at the end of our lives should not be a resume but a crown from the King.
Our goal should be to be able to say, like Jesus: Lord, I have glorified You because I have completed the work You gave me to do. GS
