We had quite a shock two weeks ago when we were preparing to leave on our Youth Mission trip! I received a call from Mississippi Presbyterian Disaster Relief, and due to their concerns over Hurricane Dean, they canceled our trip! We went from having purchased tickets and a well-planned scheduled itinerary to a state of mission free-fall in a matter of moments. What were we going to do?

We were able to completely re-plan the Youth Mission Trip in about four hours, and spent the first part of our week at Sound View Presbyterian Camp in Longbranch, Washington. Their summer staff is all volunteer, and so by the end of their camping season, their volunteers who have been working with kids all summer don't have much energy left for cleaning the facilities. We were able to come in and completely clean their kitchen, including stripping the floor and putting down six coats of wax. We also emptied a cabin of all its furniture, fixed a wall, painted the inside floor to ceiling, and then rebuilt the bunk beds and reloaded the cabin. We also deep cleaned the building in which we were staying before we left Thursday morning. The remainder of our time was spent at First Presbyterian Church of Toledo, Washington. We did some interior work on their floor, and did some exterior work on their grounds, as well as stacked three cords of wood for a women in their congregation.

I'm sure the students had a difficult time at first readjusting their ideas from ministering in Mississippi with Hurricane Katrina victims to toiling away in a kitchen just a couple of hours away; I know I did. However, we soon reminded each other that all of these events were in God's control, and that He had obviously given us a job to do; it was just different from what we had planned.

Do you have tasks which you detest? Are there areas of work which bring you frustration instead of joy? It is, after all, called “work” - and some people consider that a four-letter word. It seems that a lot of frustration with work comes from the inability to know how the work fits into the “grand scheme of things”. We don't want to do pointless, meaningless drudgery. If we have to work, we want it to be contributing to something greater than ourselves.

Victor Frankl, in his book Man's Search for Meaning, described a method used by the Nazis to torture their victims in the concentration camp in which he was held prisoner. The guards would have the prisoners dig a huge hole, or move a large pile of rubble. The inmates assumed that the work they were doing had something to do with the Nazi war effort, and although they detested their work details, they carried them out. But the torture began when the task was finished, and the next day, the prisoners were again brought out, but told to fill the hole they had just dub, or move the pile back to its original location. This process continued until the victims realized that they were doing completely pointless work; activity for the mere sake of activity, which did not contribute to a greater whole of any kind. As soon as the inmates realized this, some of them began to suicide; they could not face the pointlessness of their own toil.

This idea that work should be meaningful is certainly reflected in Scripture. I believe that our WorkFlow matters to God because work itself is a gift FROM God. Look at Ecclesiastes 5, verses 18-20:

“18 This is what I have seen to be good: it is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of the life God gives us; for this is our lot. 19 Likewise all to whom God gives wealth and possessions and whom he enables to enjoy them, and to accept their lot and find enjoyment in their toil-- this is the gift of God. ²⁰ For they will scarcely brood over the days of their lives, because God keeps them occupied with the joy of their hearts.” (emphasis mine)

You see, all of the toil, not just some specific “dream jobs”, or perhaps “religious jobs” are appropriate to find fulfillment. The form of the work is irrelevant; all of it is subject to enjoyment, if you can find it. This implies some digging on our part; we'll have to search to find the enjoyable aspects of whatever task our hands find to do.

The renumeration we receive for the work is irrelevant. It may be important to us to enable us to pay our bills, but I'm talking about its importance in the grand scheme of things; it's all right to enjoy the fruits of your labor because God made it that way. We need not be ashamed for getting a fair wage for a day's labor. And the length of our work is irrelevant; God focuses us on our work, not on our days. We work until the day is done; if the task is finished, we move on to the next one. God gives us that ability to work, and to work, and to work as a gift. Work itself serves as a purpose for our existence; we're here to get the job done – whatever that job may be.

But the fact that God gives us the ability to work and the ability to enjoy that work isn't all; our WorkFlow matters because it's a gift TO God as well. Let's take a closer look at Colossians 3:17-24:

”¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. ¹⁸ Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. ¹⁹ Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly. ²⁰ Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is your acceptable duty in the Lord. ²¹ Fathers, do not provoke your children, or they may lose heart. ²² Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not only while being watched and in order to please them, but wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord. ²³ Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters, ²⁴ since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ.”

There are a few details I'd like to point out in this section of Paul's letter to the Colossians. First, look at the phrase in verse 17, “whatever you do”: the emphasis is on EVERYTHING that you do, not just in a particular situation. Paul reminds us that ALL that we do is to be appropriately done in Jesus' name. That certainly puts a different spin on our workday, doesn't it?

He then goes on to give us three couplets (18-19, 20-21, and 22-4:1) which give us practical examples of how we are to live out our work TO God. The first example is between wives and husbands. In verse 18, when Paul tells wives to “be subject to” their husbands, we in the 21^st century get a little uncomfortable. Phrases like this have been used to justify inappropriate male dominance for hundreds of years. But we must resist the temptation to read our modern day difficulties into ancient motivations.

When Paul says “be subject to”, it's a passive word which means “be aligned with”. A modern day equivalent would be a husband and wife riding a tandem bicycle with hubby doing the steering. The wife is pedaling as well, providing power and momentum to the journey, and very probably providing directional advice as well. However, in this instance it is the man's job to steer the bike. And look at Paul's works to the husband: he is to love her, and never treat them harshly. The Greek word is “pikraino”... which means “to embitter”. I find it humorous that the husband is not to “pick at” her, or she'll get upset.

Do you see the balance in this? The wife is to let go of the temptation to seize control by placing herself within her husband's direction... and the husband is to let go of the temptation to seize control by not picking at her to dictate her actions. This is a delicate dance of relationship, not a dominance game of tug-of-war. It is horizontal, not hierarchical.

The couplet between the fathers and the children is very similar. The children are enjoined to obey their parents in verse 20: literally, the word used means “to actively listen under”. It implies paying attention to the directions being provided by parents. The other end of the couplet in verse 21 is much more strongly worded for the fathers. The word “provoke” means to “actively stimulate to anger”, and fathers are NEVER to do this. Why? The rest of the verse contains the reason: “they may lose heart”. That's a very thin translation; the word there means “never do this, lest they lose all passion or intensity”.

Finally, the last couplet is the most crucial for us today. Verse 23 encourages the reader to “put yourselves into it”. That describes an English direction, when the original words are more like “out of your soul, be the work”! Do you see the change in direction? Instead of putting ourselves into something, Paul is challenging us to BE the work itself, heart and soul! Our work, whatever it is, is to be a reflection of who we are. And it gets even more interesting: when Scripture reads “you serve the Lord Christ”, the direction of that service is TO the Lord. Not for the Lord; “TO the Lord you serve”.

When you work for someone, they design the task, they set the direction, they determine the standards by which they will judge the job; you are merely a part of the process that they have designed. You have little, if any, input into the process. But when you work TO someone, YOU get to be the initiator. You are the one who generates the work, and then gives that work as a gift to its intended recipient. We don't use the phrase “work to” in English; we're much more comfortable with “give to” or “do to”. Nevertheless, we are to “work to” the Lord... our work is to flow out of the very heart and soul of our lives as a gift to God.

Finally, our WorkFlow matters because it's a gift ABOUT God. Let's take a quick look at 3 John 1:5-6:

⁵ Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the friends, even though they are strangers to you; ⁶ they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on in a manner worthy of God...

Verse 5 is literally talking about “brothers and others”; those who follow Jesus, and those who are not yet His followers. 3 John is a letter that Paul wrote to a specific individual named Gaius. Apparently, Gaius extended hospitality in such a way that people who encountered him, whether or not they were Christians, were impacted by his work. The acts that he did for both his Christian family and for strangers were interpreted as love. Look closely: “you do faithfully whatever you do” in verse 5 is understood by those who received the benefit of his work as LOVE in verse 6.

There is a lawyer who is also a deacon at his church on the East Coast. Last year several cases came to his law firm that involved gambling, strip joints, and casinos. He seemed to be assigned to them all. When he asked what was going on, the head of the firm said, “You know, there's a lot of shady transactions and huge temptations when you deal in this arena. Bribe money flows freely. We know that you are incorruptible so you're the one we trust with these cases.”

Do you see how our everyday work can be a crucial part of God's Kingdom when we are conscious of our heart's motives as we do the work itself? Imagine how our workplaces would be changed if we remembered that all our work can be Kingdom work?

William Tyndale, the English Reformer, taught the sanctity of all work: "There is no work better than another to please God; to pour water, to wash dishes, to be a [shoemaker], or an apostle, all is one, to wash dishes and to preach is all one, as touching the deed, to please God."

This speaks directly to Christ's work on the Cross: never was there a more unwanted, ignoble task set before a servant. Yet, because of His attitude of humility and willingness to do His final work TO God, we can all have eternal life through Jesus' work. When our heart aligns with His, we, too, do Kingdom work.