The Apostle Paul can be intimidating. He writes: “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” I don’t know about you, but thinking that the Lord God Almighty supervises my work intimidates me considerably. It makes me think that everything I do at work must be perfect. But I don’t think that’s what Paul is trying to say to us.
Who we are, and whom we represent, even in our work, means what we do reflects on more than ourselves. As Christians, we have an association with the Lord, and so our actions, including how we do our job, reflect on that association. Let me give you two ways Paul talks about this. First, Paul speaks of us as belonging to God as a slave belongs to the one who purchased them. He writes: “God paid a high price for you, so don’t be enslaved by the world.” (1Corinthians 7:23 NLT) In Romans, Paul says we are part of God’s family: “So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs.” (Romans 8:15-17 NLT) Both of these share the same idea. In the time of Paul, the household you represented meant everything. If you disgraced yourself, you disgraced your household as well. Therefore, when we work, we reflect the household to which we belong. As Christians, we our work reflects our Lord.
So for me, whatever I do, I should excel at it. That does not mean that I do everything with the same quality or intensity level. Rather, it means that I try to figure out what I’m good at, what my job is, and what expectations are upon me. So when Paul made tents he might not have kept the cleanest shop in town, but perhaps he did make excellent tents at a fair price. Ultimately, if you pay someone to make you a tent, you don’t care quite as much about how often they sweep up their scrap as you do about the quality of the tent maker measurements, cuts and stitches.
Determining what would make us excel in our job and demonstrate true excellence will be different for each of us. Excellence is as diverse as we are uniquely gifted and in unique circumstances. But figuring that out puts us on the road to excellence, and I believe the Lord will be pleased with his child’s work.
