This past Eastertime provided an excellent opportunity to look at the implications of Jesus’ death and resurrection on living out our faith at work. It’s a no-brainer to see the application to our spiritual lives, but have you considered how your work looks differently in Jesus’ economy? I was reminded of the difference between work by the world’s standards and work influenced by faith in Jesus Christ at a Holy Week lunch hosted by Cross Church at Pinnacle Hills.
As I’ve gone deeper into the Old Testament prophecies that pertained to Jesus over the years, I became more curious about why the Jews of that time refused to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah. I’ve come to realize that a major factor that influenced many people who were familiar with Scripture is that His work did not produce the results they expected. Jesus didn’t overthrow the government and become the new king, so how could He be the Messiah?
The fact is, Jesus came to demonstrate and teach a higher way for our faith to influence our work and the way we live our lives. Here are a few examples of how our faith in Jesus should change the way we work.
He ask
s us to shift from:
- Being leaders who dominate … to leaders who serve. (Luke 22:25-27)
- Treating others based on social status … to treating others equally without regard for social status. (Romans 2:11)
- Being driven to achieve our own success … to selflessly loving one another through our work. (Matthew 22:39)
- Achieving success by killing the competition … to differentiating ourselves by doing excellent work. (Colossians 3:23)
- Being in control … to surrendering our work to God’s will through prayer. (Psalm 37:7)
- Obtaining more wealth to gain more power … to using the wealth we receive from our work to serve those in need. (Matthew 20:28)
- Seeking awards and recognition for our work … to giving God thanks and all the glory for our success. (1 Corinthians 10:31)
As you consider the incredible sacrifice Jesus made on the cross for each of us, challenge yourself to find ways to do more of your work by kingdom standards. We can all come up a bit higher to close the gap between our faith and our work.
What will you do?
