Liturgy for Work
Pray these prayers to help center you in His presence as you work to worship God and serve others through your work.
For the Beginning of the Day:
âEstablish for me the work of my hands.â – Psalm 90:17
For Midday:
âLove God with all your heart, soul, mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.â – Matthew 22: 37-40
For the End of the Day:
âCheerful, No Matter What.
Prayerful, All the Time.
Thankful, For Everything.
Amen.â
– 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (MSG)
Work at its worst is like a necessary evil in this life. We need to work to pay the bills, and often we work with people who we might not necessarily get along with. Sometimes, we even view work as a barrier to our best life.
Often we leave the highs of Sundays and meet the reality of Monday mornings. We often question: What do our menial jobs have to do with being a Christian? How do I find meaning in my job? Do I have to work in the ministry or at a nonprofit to find fulfillment?
In Ephesians 6:5-8, Paul writes for us to work wholeheartedly at our jobs, but what if our jobs are unfulfilling and feel purposeless?
Some of us just want to get to the weekend so we can do what we want or get to the important stuff in life.
But when we work for the weekend we are left feeling unhappy and discontent during the work week – and ultimately in our lives.
Some of us find our status and worth in our work. We work for significance and security.
But when we work for status, we are left feeling
The problem is: We have a distorted view of work and itâs
purpose . Without God-given purpose to work, what Paul is saying to the slaves and to us just sounds cruel. How can we work wholeheartedly to something we find no meaning in?
What are we missing?
In Genesis, we read that God bless the first couple and charged them to: fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground⌠The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.â (Genesis 1:28; 2:15)
From the start, the world God created wasnât a perfect, pristine, piece of nature. Eden was a world that needed to be tamed into something hospitable for life. It needed to be filled out. Creation needed to be named.
God made man and woman to rule and to continue what God started.
To be human is to fill the earth with culture, with civilization, with computers, technology, cuisine, art, science.
We were created in Godâs image to work: to take the raw materials of the land and make it into something beautiful and useful and to take care of the earth, (which weâre currently not doing a good job at) meaning that work was always a part of our DNA and design. We were actually created to make things. Paul reiterates this in Ephesians: we were created in Christ Jesus for good works.
Good works are not just religious work or humanitarian work, but also the work we do in your field and industry.
The way God provides for, protects, and nourishes us, is through each otherâs vocations.
If youâre an accountant, how do you glorify God?
By being the best accountant you can be so that your organization is being a good steward of their finances helping the mission of the organization.
If youâre an artist, you glorify God by being the best artist you can be âmagnifying the beauty of God by being stewards of awe and wonder.
If you’re a stay at home parent, you glorify God by being the best parent you can be, because that too is God-given, dignified, important work.
If youâre a manager or boss, you glorify God by treating your employees with dignity and giving them a fair wage. Not ruling over them with fear, but with grace and kindness.
The way that we are the hands and feet of Christ to our world is when we do our jobs with love and when we do our jobs well. Work is a part of how we love our neighbors. Our work is our ministry and all that ministry means is service unto the Lord.
How we serve others in our work is an indication for our love and worship for God.
Here’s the plan:
Advance Your Field: In order to work wholeheartedly, we do so by advancing our field. We should be fully engaged and focused at work to do the best possible job we can because the work we do is the same as serving God. (Ephesians 6:5-6)
When you are focused on the mission and good work of your company, you will also be able to celebrate the advancement of your coworkers, not compete or envy them. Youâll even be able to celebrate your boss. Because the goal is not self-advancement but the advancement of the work itself. Weâll be less concerned about our position and more concerned about its quality.
Adjust Your Attitude: The attitude we should have when we come to work each day is the same attitude we come to church. Where we come with the intention to glorify God and to serve others.
âServe wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.â
Everything you do unto the Lord is going to count towards eternity.
Abide with Christ: When we go to work, the Body of Christ is scattered, but we still carry within us the presence of God. We should anticipate Jesus the same way we do when we come to church.
You can listen to the sermon The Work of Our Hands from the Ephesians series that inspired this post here.
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Recommended Books:
Garden City: Work, Rest and the Art of Being Human
Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work
Sermons:
Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho, It’s Off to Work We Go! (Numbers Series)
Behind the Mask (Numbers Series)
In the Kiln with Christ (Genesis Series)
Good Work, Fruitful Worship, True Wealth (Prayers for the Pilgrimage)