People Who Believe in a Great Christ Isampula

Transform Your Work Into Worship

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.

Whatever your work is, give it your best. Give it one hundred percent. Be the best teacher, engineer, businessman, pilot, homemaker, nursery worker, musician, athlete, or student you can be. Don’t be half-hearted. This honors Christ.

One month before he was assassinated, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said this to sanitation workers in Memphis: 

All labor has value. If you’re a street sweeper, sweep streets the way Michelangelo painted pictures. Sweep streets the way Beethoven composed music. Sweep streets the way Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets in such a profound way that the Host of Heaven will say, ‘There goes a great street sweeper.’

Moreover, not only do your best but do it for the Lord. When it comes to work, this is the principle behind every other. You don’t work for the boss, your supervisor, the CEO, your coworkers, your customers, the shareholders, for a paycheck, or for retirement. No, you work for the Lord.

In the classic movie Chariots of Fire, which is based on a true story, there is a great contrast between two 100-meter runners. Harold Abrahams reflected before the Olympic 100-meter finals, “I’ve got ten seconds to justify my entire existence.” Clearly, Abrahams felt enormous pressure to prove that he was a somebody.

By contrast, when Eric Liddell, a devoted follower of Christ, was discussing his running with his sister Jenny, he remarks to her in a lighthearted way, “God made me fast. When I run, I feel His pleasure.” Liddell understood what it meant to do his work, including the work of running, for the Lord.

Whatever our work is, whether it is the work of an athlete or the work of an engineer, whether it is yard work or homework, in every form of work, do it for the Lord. When you work for the Lord, it transforms your work into worship.