Heart Over Hustle: Working As Unto the Lord

I don’t think God cares so much about what I do as He does about how I do it.

We spend so much time trying to figure out what to do– what to do with our lives, our time, our energy. People everywhere, of all ages and backgrounds, waste so much energy trying to “fulfill their purpose” or find their ideal job or “make something of themselves”.

This kind of unspoken expectation to do something “meaningful” with your life is ever-present; a subtle but weighty pressure from society to have big dreams, big goals, a game-plan to make it happen, and the confidence that you can’t fail. You must always have something you’re working on, working toward, working for.

We feel such a need to always be doing more. Bigger, better, different, more.

Rather than always striving for something else we should instead work to be faithful and diligent with what God has allowed us to steward within the scope of our current circumstances.

I love what Spurgeon has to say on this and think about it often:

“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” (Ecclesiastes 9:10)

“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do,” refers to works that are possible. There are many things which our heart findeth to do which we never shall do. It is well it is in our heart; but if we would be eminently useful, we must not be content with forming schemes in our heart, and talking of them; we must practically carry out “whatsoever our hand findeth to do.” One good deed is more worth than a thousand brilliant theories. Let us not wait for large opportunities, or for a different kind of work, but do just the things we “find to do” day by day. We have no other time in which to live. The past is gone; the future has not arrived; we never shall have any time but time present.

Then do not wait until your experience has ripened into maturity before you attempt to serve God. Endeavour now to bring forth fruit. Serve God now, but be careful as to the way in which you perform what you find to do—“do it with thy might.” Do it promptly; do not fritter away your life in thinking of what you intend to do tomorrow as if that could recompense for the idleness of today. No man ever served God by doing things tomorrow. If we honour Christ and are blessed, it is by the things which we do today. Whatever you do for Christ throw your whole soul into it. Do not give Christ a little slurred labour, done as a matter of course now and then; but when you do serve him, do it with heart, and soul, and strength.

But where is the might of a Christian? It is not in himself, for he is perfect weakness. His might lieth in the Lord of Hosts. Then let us seek his help; let us proceed with prayer and faith, and when we have done what our “hand findeth to do,” let us wait upon the Lord for his blessing. What we do thus will be well done, and will not fail in its effect.”

—Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, November 26th

What is Spurgeon saying here? We must work at whatever it is we have to do today; we can’t wait for the “ideal” time or opportunity to do anything, especially when it comes to serving God, for tomorrow is promised to no one. We must be faithful in all things, for ultimately everything is in service to the Lord. Our strength and ability isn’t of ourself, but we can do “whatever our hands find to do” well and in submission to Christ, and He will take it and allow it to fulfill whatever purpose He had for it.

This involves a certain heart-posture that we can struggle to maintain in the midst of our entitled society that encourages finding whatever it is in life that “serves you”.

Thanks, but no thanks. I’m here to serve Christ.

“The ‘layman’ need never think of his humbler task as being inferior to that of his minister. Let every man abide in the calling wherein he is called and his work will be as sacred as the work of the ministry. It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it. The motive is everything. Let a man sanctify the Lord God in his heart and he can thereafter do no common act. All he does is good and acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For such a man, living itself will be a priestly ministration.”

A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

Colossians 3:23-24 (ESV) states it plainly:

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”

Whatever I do. Whether that is a high-paying, high-visibility career or an unseen, under- appreciated job like washing dishes or cleaning bathrooms; or a hobby I do for fun; or the unseen routines I repeat day after day that build my character more than my bank account.

Whatever I do I am to do it as unto the Lord for His glory, and as a natural consequence it will also work out for my good.

“The Reformers emphasized calling in order to break down the sacred-secular divide. They said, if you’re working for the glory of God, you are doing the Lord’s work, no matter whether you’re a priest, a monk, or a banker. But we’ve taken this notion of calling and turned it upside down, so instead of finding purpose in every kind of work, we are madly looking for the one job that will fulfill our purpose in life.”

Kevin DeYoung, Just Do Something, pg. 101, emphasis mine

What I’m doing doesn’t matter as much as my attitude regarding the task.

God cares about my heart more than He cares about my hustle.

Likewise, in her 1942 essay Why Work, Dorothy Sayers unpacks the idea that being made in the image of our Creator, work and creativity are natural functions of man.  Work is not primarily something we do to live, as only a means of monetary gain- but the thing we live to do, an outlet (she calls it a medium) through which we offer ourselves to God. 

“Work must be good work before it can call itself God’s work…every maker and worker is called to serve God in his profession or trade- not outside it…The only Christian work is good work well done. Let the Church see to it that the workers are Christian people and do their work well, as to God: then all the work will be Christian work…”

She further explains how callings to jobs in secular work are just as necessary and true as jobs in specific religious work; that the Church should not contribute to the thought that a person’s life is divided into time he spends on his work and time he spends serving God, but that he must be able to serve God in his work and have that recognized as a divine opportunity.

“When we can praise God through the excellence of our work that is simply a way to serve well in the way God has called us. We serve God by serving our work, because it’s when we serve our work well that we naturally serve our communities well, which is the best expression/outpouring of God’s command to love our neighbor: “‘Love God- and your neighbor: on those two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.’ The catch in it, which nowadays the world has largely forgotten, is that the second commandment depends upon the first, and that without the first, it is a delusion and a snare. Much of our present trouble and disillusionment have come from putting the second commandment before the first. If we put our neighbor first, we are putting man above God…

There is, in fact, a paradox about working to serve the community, and it is this: that to aim directly at serving the community is to falsify the work; the only way to serve the community is to forget the community and serve the work…You can’t do good work if you take your mind off of it to see how the community is taking it; and if your heart is not wholly in the work, the work will not be good- and work that is not good serves neither God nor the community; to serve the work is a labor of pure love; it is the work that serves the community, the business of the worker is to serve the work…As we are so we make.

So if God doesn’t care what we do, then what are we to do?

Well, if we’re living in alignment with His Word and our heart is not seeking after anything sinful, we can really do whatever we want. And it can still be within His will and for His Glory (the book I’ve cited here in this post, Just Do Something, is a very helpful resource for understanding this better)!

“…many of us expect too much out of life. We’ve assumed that we’ll experience heaven on earth, and then we get disappointed when earth seems so unheavenly. We have little longing left for our reward in the next life because we’ve come to expect such rewarding experiences in this life…I’m pretty sure most of us would be more fulfilled of we didn’t fixate on fulfillment quite so much.“

Kevin DeYoung, Just Do Something, pg. 30, emphasis mine

Now of course we don’t want to live lazy or irresponsible lives (If you’re not going to work you aren’t going to eat either, 2 Thessalonians 3:10). I’m not saying that you don’t need good work ethic or ambitious goals from time to time. Those are essential in order to get things done.

But 95% of our life is made up of the small, mundane tasks in between the moments of inspiration and accomplishment. Most of us are not going to be widely-loved, well-known over-achievers making big bucks doing something we may love (or may hate).

But we can be people who are good stewards; who love the lives we live and do our jobs faithfully (regardless of the job) and who God always provides for; who are deeply loved by our friends and family; and who see the opportunity for service and fellowship in every interaction.

In God’s sovereignty and providence, I can have as much an impact on my community by working in our local Christian bookstore as I might if I were working in counseling like I’d planned during college.

I find great comfort in this.

And I remind myself often: I love my life and I love my job; I enjoy the things I do and so can do them happily and gratefully. I pray that because of this people are able to see the joy of the Lord in my life, and that He will use this to draw them to Himself.

And if (or more likely when) my circumstances change, or my goals change or I find a new passion and pursue something different, I only hope that whatever I decide to do I will be able to do well and with good attitude and effort. As unto the Lord.

Here is a link to a related teaching on the topic by Steve Lawson that I heard/watched as I was in the midst of writing this post: Working as for the Lord.