OPINION:
Dads work hard — it’s a trademark of being a dad. Long days and many hours, and often there are several people you are trying to make happy. Sometimes a man pursues a job to take care of his or his family’s needs, and it may not be a dream job, but he is hard at work.
A great reflection upon how we should view work comes from Martin Luther King, Jr. who said: “If it falls to your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, like Shakespeare wrote poetry, like Beethoven composed music; sweep streets so well that all the host of Heaven and earth will have to pause and say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper, who swept his job well.’”
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Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord and not for people, knowing that it is from the Lord that you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve – Colossians 3:23-24 (NASB)
I bet that you want to be known as someone who did his job well. You appreciate good work, but it is easy to fall into the trap of working for your own pleasure, for the pleasure of other people, and for the recognition that work can bring. It’s common to get busy and forget that God has made each of us for His pleasure and His plans for our lives. You may forget to thank Him for your work at times or see that God is with you in your job. How do you view your work?
It is a gift to be provided with work. From God’s perspective, work is a way to honor him with your hands. Sometimes it’s easier to view working for man more important than working for God. We sometimes get this backwards in our drive to work. Working for man focuses on what we can get out of a job. Working for God focuses on what God has for you in your work, and offers security and provision beyond a certain job that may come and go.
Whether you work because you need to or you want to, when your work becomes difficult you can give it back to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to help you keep His perspective for your work. God is waiting for you to give it to Him. He has given it to you, but you may need to turn it over to Him and free up expectations you have of people rather than God.
Some dads have discovered that what seemed like security actually weighed them down and, when they surrendered their job, the Lord gave them an even better job. We bump into the sovereignty of God again.
Your Work is Valuable
… and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. – 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 (NIV)
Dreamers and Doers. Which one are you? Do you recall what you said you wanted to be when you grew up? Work probably seemed more like what you could think about doing that seemed less like work and more like fun. And perhaps you still feel that way!
Your hard work is valuable. You are providing for your family and that is a primary need that God gave to man. You will reach people where you are that no one else might reach in the way you can. You don’t even fully know the impact you will have or have had in your years of work.
Thomas Edison knew what it was like to work hard. He worked really hard, especially for one of his inventions you are most familiar with: the nickel-iron storage battery. What was current during his time wasn’t much of a current! What was available wouldn’t last, and Edison kept pushing forward to come up with the solution. He is famous for saying, “Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results! I know several thousand things that won’t work,” but Edison was able to get to the ultimate solution. Because of his endurance and hard work, we now have the battery that is still used today.
What are your contributions? What are you working hard to produce? You are changing not only your family but the community, region, and part of the world that you are in.
Charles Spurgeon said, “The best and wisest thing in the world is to work as if it all depended upon you, and then trust in God, knowing that it all depends upon him.”
It’s a great thing to know that God has given you favor and that your work doesn’t depend on you, but on Him. When you give Him everything—from a thought, a project, a desire—and then watch for Him to confirm the work of your hands, it’s a true gift to see and to sense what He’s doing in and through you. He is so kind and gracious, and He wants to confirm what we do unto Him.
When you offer everything to Him and ask that He would lead and guide you to accomplish His will, you know He affirms your skills and desires. The fact that “confirm for us the work of our hands” is mentioned twice tells us how important this is to God. Even more than the work that we do, God wants us to give out His kindness. When you work, you aren’t just working with the physical abilities God has given you. But you are operating in the spiritual gifts He has given you, touching the lives around you.
Your work is valuable because it also reflects your heart and what you dream of.
Motivational speaker Les Brown shared some words about what we dream of doing at any age. May this inspire you:
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”
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©Blythe Daniel, William Daniel, and Helen McIntosh. 2024. Used with Permission. “I Love You, Dad! Words to Honor and Humor You.” www.endgamepress.com
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