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Work For God

One thing is for certain when it comes to being a subject in God’s Kingdom: It’s never about me. If I was created, and if I was created by God, I was created for God. Since I was created for Him, not only is the purpose of my existence for God, but the things that make up my existence are for God,

• My education: for God
• My health: for God
• My marriage: for God
• My free time: for God
• My job: for God
• You name it: for God

If I were created for me, who I am and what I do can be anything I want it to be. This is the state of the world and the reality of our culture. If there is ignorance or denial of our creation by and for God, life is spent on me. The deception is that life for me leads to life. But look at what is happening: the will and purpose of all the me’s in the world are in conflict. Conflict leads to violence and violence leads to death. Life lived for me leads to death. There is clear evidence everywhere.

In fact, the beauty of life not being about me is that it leads you and me away from conflict with one another. We share a purpose that sets goodness and peace and consideration before us. Those things are also created by and for God, so we are allowed to share them infinitely and abundantly, and they never create conflict. Living for God, never creates conflict. Never creates violence. Never creates death.

When our everyday work is for God, not for us, it throws a wrench in the works of death. It interrupts conflict and violence with goodness, peace and consideration. Even when we are surrounded by those who are working for themselves, our lack of self-interest breaks cycles and feedback loops that would otherwise always go dark and broken. 

This is not a matter of practical application. It doesn’t matter if I am a lawyer, a bus driver, a stay-at-home-dad, a priest or a cellist. No matter the technical aspect of the work, if my work is for God, I bring life and its fruit into places that would otherwise spiral hopelessly toward despair and conflict.

We strategic thinkers always want a plan and several bullet points of next-steps to live out our faith. But let’s shed that pressure until we get this down: Work for God!