“If I cannot experience the Spirit in the work I am doing today, then I can’t experience the Spirit today at all.”- John Ortberg
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.”- Ecclesiastes 9:10
John Ortberg begins Chapter 20 (“Let Your Work Honor God”) of The Me I Want to Be as he stresses only God himself can bless you in your circumstances today. As a result, John states, we must abandon the romanticized idea we’ll find “job love at first sight.”
Passion for our work, Pastor Ortberg observes, cannot be compared to a subterranean volcano waiting to erupt. Rather, passion for our work is :
- a plant that needs cultivation
- a muscle we strengthen a little each day as we complete our tasks
- doing what’s expected of us, and then some
It’s usually only after the fact that we get to know the full significance of what we do or don’t accomplish in our work. Therefore, John suggests, pray to ask God to make your work successful. However, if you find yourself making success an idol, you need to find a way to dethrone it. Generally speaking, though, if you find it hard to pray for the success of what you’re doing, John urges, start doing something else!
In conclusion, John describes what happens when we put everything together:
“When we discover the gifts God has given us and the passions that engage us, and we put them to work in the service of values we deeply believe in – in conscious dependence on God – then we are working in the Spirit. Then our work is helping each of us to create the me I want to be. We are the ones who make our work significant — not the other way around.”
Today’s question: How do you experience the Spirit in your work? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “If Jesus were your direct supervisor”
