Whatever You Do . . . 

Colossians 3:23-24

“And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ”.

Think about that for a minute.  Whatever we do.  That doesn’t just apply to ministry opportunities or serving the Lord at church.  It says whatever we do.  Does it apply when I am changing a baby’s diaper, cooking dinner, doing the laundry, mowing the yard, writing a report?  Absolutely.

Sometimes I am in a hurry, and I just want to get things done.  I do a good job but it probably isn’t my best job.  It is good enough.  Good enough for who?  For the person I am doing the job for?  For myself?  What if I was doing that exact thing for the Lord?  Would I do a better job?  Absolutely.

We want to do a good job for Jesus.  But what about doing a good job for our families, friends, co-workers?  When we are cleaning the house for our families, writing a report for our boss or helping a friend out, it should be like we are doing it for Jesus.  Sounds good in theory.  But what happens when we put it into practice.  Well, God gave me a chance one day at my job (years ago when I was still working).  I answered the phones for 8 hours a day - 8am till 5pm.  At 5pm I would take off my wireless headset and go home.  Well, there was this one day at 5pm, I saw that there was a call waiting in the cue for the fraud line. I was the only one available after 4pm to take fraud calls.  I could have ignored it.  It is very unusual for a call to even come thru at that time.  Usually, the phone system starts diverting calls a few minutes before 5.  I had a choice to make.  Do I just go home - after all I had already put in my 8 hours and I am not required to work later than 5.  Or, do I do my job heartily as to the Lord?  I took the call and ended up being at work until 5:15pm.  I didn’t get anything extra for staying late and that particular call could have waited another day.  It wasn’t an emergency or anything earth-shattering.  But that’s not the point.  Am I willing to give my boss the same attention to detail that I would give Jesus?  Am I willing to work just as hard when no one is looking as I am when I am being monitored?  God is not a slave driver.  He isn’t standing over us making sure we do everything perfect.  He simply wants our best.  Am I doing my best or just doing enough to get by.

I wish I could say that I work heartily as to the Lord all the time.  But that wouldn’t be the truth.  There are many times when I let it be “good enough”.  After all, who is going to see me?  But people are always watching - even if we don’t think they are.  Am I being a good witness - being a good employee or friend or whoever?  I want to challenge and encourage you to work heartily as to the Lord so that anyone who sees you will know exactly who you are working for.