Do You Like Your Job?

Think of being at a party full of people you’re meeting for the first time. After your name, what’s the most common question you’ll hear? 

“What do you do for a living?”

What would you say? How much does your job title define you? How much does it affect your self-image? If you don’t have a “title,” how does it feel when people ask you that question? If you had your title taken away today, how would you feel?

From Ecclesiastes 2 we can infer that if Solomon had been at the party he might have answered, “Well, I’m king! And by the way I’m also rich and accomplished and have a lot of women fulfilling my every fantasy.” 

However, even if he put up a good front at the party, we know from Ecclesiastes that his job and accomplishments left him feeling empty and like life was meaningless. Why? Perhaps it was because he was looking to his work to supply his identity . . . an identity that can only come from God.

This is something the apostle Paul learned. Although he had tons of credentials which he listed in Philippians 3:5-6, in verses 7 and 10 he writes, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ . . . I want to know Christ”

Peter says it like this, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). 

With our identity firmly rooted in Christ we have nothing to prove and nothing to lose. However, we may want to add some to our job description as we live out our identity in our workplace – whether you are washing dishes, teaching kids how to read, or arguing a court case. Things like . . .

• value people above things
• do my work with excellence as for God
• serve others, putting their interest before my own
• bring kingdom values to my cubicle

LAURA CROSBY serves as Director of Spiritual Formation for The Table at CPC

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