CHARACTER PROFILE: YOUR WORK ETHIC, PART 2
Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life."-Genesis 3:17 (NKJV)
We may call it a lot of things-business, occupation, career, calling, vocation, livelihood, practice, or profession-but in the end, it's all the same thing . . . work. Something often happens in our hearts when the word work is mentioned, a heaviness that makes our shoulders slump.
The average person doesn't enjoy working. Many refer to the start of the work week as Monday moanin'. Why is that? How is it that the human race has come to have such resentment for something that's such an integral part of life?
The answer is given to us in the first few chapters of Genesis. God created man and gave him the responsibility to tend, serve, and care for the rest of His creation (Genesis 1:15). This was intended to give man a sense of purpose and fulfillment. However, when man sinned, it altered his environment. The world became a hostile place-tending turned into toiling; serving, into sweating; and caring for God's creation, into a curse. This is the world's outlook on work. It's a depressing drudgery, a life sentence that we must serve.
Not so for the believer in Christ! Christians still live in a fallen world that requires them to work, but because they have a connection with the Creator, their work is transformed into worship. They understand that true fulfillment and purpose come from doing God's will, and that His will is for work to serve as a platform for glorifying Him. The result? The effects of the curse are reversed, and work is once again something to enjoy.
Discuss with your group how your work can be an act of worship (Romans 12:1). Share an example of how God has used you or a situation in your workplace to bring glory to Himself. What happened?
Dig into Genesis 3:17–24. What does this passage teach us about our responsibility to work? What other Scriptures can you find that speak to our calling and commissioning to work? How can your attitude at work glorify God and bless others? Who in your workplace is watching your witness?
Decide as a group to pray for those who are in a position of authority in the workplace. Take time to lift them up to the Lord and pray that your service to them would draw them to a greater faith in Jesus Christ.
