Hate Your Job? Do These 4 ThingsНамуна

Work Heartily for the Lord, Not People

If you hate your job I get it. I’ve felt the same way. Perhaps your story is similar to mine. I was passed over, forgotten about, looked down on, and a nobody in the eyes of people whose approval I was trying to win.

I was working hard, but I was getting nowhere. My professional life was a growing string of failures, and my hopes were dashed.

And I discovered that when you hate your job, the tendency can be to slack off and do the bare minimum. It can feel like it doesn’t matter what you do because no one will notice or care. The truth was that my boss might not have noticed or cared but God did.

He was using this to see whether I passed the Colossians 3:23 test: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”

On the other hand, maybe you’re stuck in a job where you don’t have the luxury of slacking off but you’re hating every minute of it. Your bigger challenge may be maintaining a healthy attitude during this challenging season. People often assume that heartily only means “to work hard.” But I’ve come to realize that it means so much more.

It’s working hard with a cheerful heart, knowing that your work is glorifying God, even when you can’t see that it is. Whether I had a good or bad boss, was paid poorly or well, or loved or hated my job, I was called to work diligently and with a joyful attitude—not for my boss but for God.

When I fully grasped that idea, it brought peace. I knew that even if I had a tyrannical boss, things would work out for me if I worked for the Lord. I didn’t have to get caught up in brownnosing or jumping through hundreds of hoops to keep the boss in a good mood. I just needed to work hard and trust God to take care of the rest.