Editorial

Daily Work as an Act of Worship

I’m a bit curious about something. How many people who might read this newsletter article, are still pursuing the same career or doing the same job that you strived for, after or during high school? I am still in education and lots of my friends are still in the jobs they trained for. However, statistics will tell me that our kids are likely to change jobs and retrain a number of times during their careers. That sounds pretty exciting to me. Some of our students will have a pretty clear idea of what they want to do, post school and others will be taking a scenic route towards their future careers. Both trajectories are fine, though the control freak in me finds the scenic option a little harder to accept.  

The truth is, I ultimately hope that our students will see their work and their careers as an act of worship. I came across this Tim Keller quote which I think nails this thought;

“Your daily work is ultimately an act of worship to God who called and equipped you to do it – no matter what kind of work it is”.

This quote does a number of things for us...

• It gives us perspective. It helps us see that all of life, unto God, is worship. When you choose to follow Jesus, every part of your life is affected, every part has something to do with him.
• We are called to serve God in all of life, so we are therefore called into particular roles for a particular time, for a particular purpose. I believe that our staff have literally been handpicked to work here at MECS, as have our students. 
• God will equip us, even when a task seems overwhelming. In all aspects of life, there is brokenness as a cause of sin, so at times, our work is going to be hard, uncomfortable, difficult and there will be times where we throw our hands up and say “I don’t like this!”
• God does not for a minute think that one job is more important than another, but the world does. The world would like us to think that a doctor has a greater purpose than a plumber. Let me assure you, the doctor can’t function and go about their normal routines, without the assistance at times, of a plumber. So in that context, who is more important? 

Romans 12 is a very clear passage that helps us to see what it looks like for us to take our everyday existence, our sleeping, our eating and our working as being an offering to God. I particularly appreciate the Message bible paraphrase of this passage;

So, here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognise what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. Romans 12:1-2

Our work is an act of worship. How does that change up your day? 

Cheers, Michelle