The second of eight aims that should drive every Christian's career path--by Desiring God Ministries.

2. Aspire to Do God’s Work

If the only category you have for the Lord’s work is Christian ministry, it won’t take long for you to functionally disconnect your life’s vocation from your life’s mission — to make much of God. All work is God’s work — prepared by him, carried out by faith in him, and done before him and for him.

The accountant’s bookkeeping, the developer’s programming, the mother’s lunch-making are works from God, planned by him long before your first day on the job. All of your good works, on and off the clock, were prepared for you in order that you would walk in them (Ephesians 2:10).

Your work is God’s work because you cannot do it without him. Nothing, vocationally or otherwise, will please God if it is not done in faith, that is, actively trusting and treasuring Jesus. Paul says, “Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23). The bus driver’s route and the surgeon’s precision and the concierge’s counsel are all the Lord’s work when they are done in reliance upon him for strength and wisdom and giftedness.
And this work is God’s because you never ultimately work for anyone but him. “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” (Colossians 3:23–24). This is not a piece of hyper-spiritual advice for overcoming psychological barriers in your job. When you love Jesus, in all your work of any kind, you are serving him.

Randy Smith