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Working for Eternity

Once we surrender to God, He transforms us into new creations. Then gradually He realigns us around His purposes for our life and work, thus positioning us to be sent into the world to do His will. When we integrate each part of that process in our lives, our work has lasting influence.

Jesus instructs us to work for food “that endures to eternal life” (John 6:27 NIV). Since God is eternal, all that He does has eternal consequences. Everything we do for Him, and with Him, will also endure for eternity. Paul reinforced the eternal of the spiritual: “What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV).

Though books have been written on how the best companies are “built to last,” the only things that truly last are those of God. This understanding has inspired me to focus on the unseen things that matter most, those things that will survive the fire of divine love. For “the fire will test the quality of each person’s work” (1 Corinthians 3:13 NIV).

So, what of our business lives will survive this fire?

As I hope this devotional has revealed, God uses our work to do His work in us. Surely the work God has done in shaping our character will last forever. That’s one thing that will survive.

And here’s another. I believe we will carry our relationships with God and His people into eternity.

I had a good friend who led a business that was built through many acquisitions and was sold for the astronomical sum of $50 billion. A few years after that, he said to me, “It’s interesting. I don’t remember the details of any of the many transactions we did. What I remember is the people.”

God will remember His people and all that we have done with Him and for Him. He graciously transforms our work into a spiritual art and infuses our temporal labor with eternal significance.

Through the eyes of faith, can you see the parts of what you do that will last into eternity? Does this perspective cause you to rethink where you place your priorities and how you spend your time?

Adapted from The Spiritual Art of Business: Connecting the Daily with the Divine. Copyright ©2023 by Rowan Publishing LLC. Used by permission. For more information, please visit www.ivpress.com/the-spiritual-art-of-business.