Holy Hustle: Embrace A Work-Hard, Rest-Well LifeSample

I’d read Ruth’s story in the Bible dozens of times before, but one Sunday I noticed something unexpected. Ruth didn't just do the bare minimum to get by. She hustled. She worked hard, respectfully, resting when needed, and finishing the work that was before her. She worked until evening, gathering 26 quarts of barley to support her family. Ruth showed up to work, and God worked out a plan through her life that would lead to her marriage to Boaz and her place in the lineage of Jesus.

That is holy hustle. Ruth wasn't motivated by popularity or recognition. Gathering grain was hard, back-breaking work. It wasn't fancy or famous or impressive. It was humbling. Ruth's work had meaning and purpose, and I believe ours does too.

What if Ruth had looked around the small home she shared with Naomi and focused more on what they lacked than on what she could provide? What if Ruth had gone out to seek work that would make her feel important instead of doing the work that would put her right where God wanted her? She may have missed the harvest entirely, as well as the blessings God wanted to give her as He redeemed her family.

It can be hard to go out and do the hard work God has called us to do. Maybe you’ve been asked to serve in a workplace that doesn’t honor God, and you feel like the stranger in a foreign land. Or maybe God has brought you to a new place, and your dreams of doing impressive work that would bring recognition and fame have been replaced with a call to serve in a much smaller way. Maybe you’ve been serving faithfully in a role that you love but feel frustrated that you don't see the fruit of your work.

When we stop striving and start serving, we begin to trust God to harvest what we’re faithfully planting. The kindness you bring to your workplace may be the very thing that draws someone closer to God. The love you show to others in the small, unseen, faithful places may be the very stepping-stone God will use to bring people closer to Himself. And those seeds you plant in faith may one day, generations after you’ve been gone from this earth, be the catalyst to a beautiful gift God wants to share with the world.