There are hundreds of ways to find good jobs and get hired.  They tell you how much money you can make and all of their fabulous benefits.  You may never know how much you will like a position until you actually begin to perform.  Most end up disliking what they do.  As a result, they do not succeed.

I started working in the fifth grade delivering newspapers.  After a year I began setting pins in a bowling alley.  This was prior to having to have a work permit.  If you applied and could do the job you were hired regardless of age.  I then spent three years in a shoe-shine parlor with four others working after school and summers.  I then became an elevator operator when they had to be run manually.  I did this for two different hotels. I then spent four years in the Navy. One summer I worked as an electrician’s helper, one logging, another was working on The Dalles Dam and one picking fruit. I know what it is to work without a goal.  I worked for money in order to buy what I wanted.  None of those jobs were dream jobs to me and I can’t say I did any enthusiastically.  These jobs did buy me cars, clothes, an education and basic needs.

I heard a sermon on Ephesians 6:5 – 9 and it changed how I worked.  “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.  Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.  Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.  And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.”

Instead of the word slaves, inserted was the word employees.  It went like this: Employees obey and respect those who you work for whether they are watching or not.  Work as an employee of Christ wanting to please God in whatever you do.

This took my mind off of me and focused onto Christ.  I started seeing work as more than just a job.  Instead of focusing on myself, I saw what I was doing was helping others.  The Apostle Paul says we are not to do our best only when we are being watched but remember God is watching every second through the Holy Spirit that is within us.  We are not to waste time conducting personal business when we should be working.  We should not extend our break periods.  We should always arrive early for work and not leave until our time is up.

I recognized that working for God and others made work much more enjoyable.  Working for a large corporation in management overseeing hundreds of employees I found that helping others become successful was extremely rewarding.  It was like when I was a high school coach and seeing players become star athletes and knowing you helped was exciting.  It is great when you can assist a person in becoming better.

When you have a job you really like, you don’t worry about the time.  It seems you can hardly wait to get to work and most evenings you stay later than required.  That doesn’t mean you can’t have a balanced life and it doesn’t require being a workaholic.  It’s great when work becomes fun.

When I started my own business it was doing something I had always enjoyed doing.  I spent hours preparing and trying to learn all I could in order to help others.  A few years ago I no longer needed to work financially.  I now work because I like what I am doing and I continue to help people.

Some people work because of the recognition their position gives them.  Some have a goal to become rich.  If you were to ask Jesus about work what do you think He would say?  Would He say: get the best paying job you can find; or get a job that you can Lord it over others?   Would He say quit school early and take a job that requires little skills?  Would He not ask us to seek a vision as to how we could improve the life of others and our own?  That could include producing new products, working in education or the medical field.  It could be building bridges.  I would think He would say it isn’t so much as what you do as to how you do it.  What is your attitude, who do you focus on, how prepared are you or do you do your very best?  Are you making work enjoyable?  Adam was given a hoe and a rake and God told him to get busy. Genesis 3:17 – “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you.   All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.”  (I assumed scratching required the hoe and rake.)

God doesn’t expect all of us to become engineers.  Scripture does tell us how to enjoy what we are doing.

Proverbs 13:11 – “Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows over time.” NLT

Proverbs 23:4 – “Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich.  Be wise enough to know when to quit.” NLT