Every year, freshmen in an introductory English course are required to talk to someone in their chosen field of study. Because professors on campus are easy to access and readily available, I will invariably get a request from a student asking if they can interview me. These conversations are usually quite revealing because I get a sense of how much the students knows about their major based on the questions that they ask. The conversations are also interesting because it doesn’t take them long to discover that while my field of study is business management, my current job is focused on education. Therefore, they will usually ask what prompted the switch.
While I give them the factual account of how I ended up going from a profession I knew little about before college (management and marketing) to the one profession I was convinced I never wanted (education), I also tell them how the story is evidence of God’s grace in my life. I never wanted to be a teacher, yet God directed me to this path, and it turns out I have a proclivity for it. I used to get red in the face and butterflies in my stomach whenever I had to give a presentation; now standing up in front of people is part of my daily work experience. Long gone are the rosy cheeks and uneasy tummy, instead God has used my profession to provide numerous opportunities to help others and to tell them about Him. As I tell my students, not everyone gets to do a job that they love; I am grateful that God has given me the opportunity.
However, regardless of whether we enjoy the tasks associated with our work or not, all labor that a Christian does should be done out of love. First and foremost, we should work out of love for our Savior who has provided us the means and the opportunity to do the work that is set before us. This is true regardless of whether we commute to an office each day or are a caretaker of our home; the love of Christ should compel us to diligently perform our tasks so that the excellence we bring to work displays to others the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light (I Peter 2:9).
Our work should also be motivated by love for others. Of course, the best way we can love others is by pointing them to Jesus. However, our vocation – whether it is keeping a company’s books, providing medical services, designing a building, caring for children, or any other honorable profession – provides an opportunity to serve others with patience and sacrifice. As He worked, Jesus was moved by compassion (Mt. 9:36), and so should we. We should see our jobs as an opportunity to be an ambassador for Christ; we should be an extension of His love to all those that He places in our path of service.
When I talk to my students, I tell them that my desire is that they will love their work; that they will find an occupation that allows them to use their talents and gifts in a way that brings them joy. But even more than that, my hope is that their labor will be motivated by love – first out of love for our Savior, and secondly out of love for those He created. Regardless of the title that has been given us or the responsibilities that we have been assigned, I wish the same for every other believer as well.
