This section of scripture covers a lot of ground: wives, husbands, children, slaves, masters. And as we’ve seen in this letter, Paul is pretty straight forward. As I read through these verses time and again, there are a few phrases that are sticking hard:
…as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. [v. 23, NLT]
…It is the Lord Christ you are serving. [v. 24, NIV]
…God has no favorites. [v. 25, NLT]
I find it so easy to make excuses because of the broken and fallen world that we live in. We warp the black and white, because, well, “at least I’m doing better than so-and-so.” Oh, just me?
God doesn’t call us to be perfect, but He calls us to “do what is right, love mercy, and walk humbly with Him.” [Micah 6:8] He is a jealous God. [Exodus 20:5; Deuteronomy 4:24]
Jealous for your heart.
Jealous for your mind.
Sisters, it is for Him that we are living each day. And each day we are covered by His grace.
- Think of an area in your life where you’ve chosen to “work for man” instead of God?
- Are there idols in your life that need to be replaced? What areas is He jealous for?
{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
I am reminded that whatever the situation I need to do what is right in the eyes of God not man. How I feel about the situation does not matter. Doing what is right is so much more important.
When we love God and want to please Him, we aim to do what is right despite the lack of gratitude and / or acknowledgment we get. This comforts me, because if it weren't for the fact that I KNOW that He sees, cares and is pleased, it would be tough to do. I'd be running on empty. But THANK GOD we aren't wandering and wondering aimlessly, trying to please someone who isn't present or engaged, yet is both!!! And He comforts and encourages through it all!!!! GLORY TO GOD!!!!
After I posted the above, I came across this verse: Philippians 2:5. “Your attitude should be the same as Christ’s. “. If I kept the attitude of Christ through everything, I WOULD be working at it all with all my heart for The Lord!
Put on God’s Designer clothes!
“Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive any grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as The Lord has forgave you.” And then put on the outer garment of love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:12-14
What is your current idol?
I was preparing to lead the service this Sunday and the pastor is preaching on this very passage. So I googled it to get more insight and stumbled upon your website! Awesome place for women to hang out and be encouraged and gently rebuked, cuz ya, we need that too
I use to work out of my home, working at two jobs, one of which I owned. Dealing with bosses, customers, patients, partners, and all the frustrations and blessings that go along with it all. Now that I am at home, working alongside hubby, I find I struggle with doing these menial tasks for The Lord. I do not like cleaning, making meals, laundry etc and have done them with a very poor attitude. Where is the sense of accomplishment? But God keeps bringing these verses back to me, to remind me that WHATEVER I do, no matter where or what, it is for The Lord!!!!
I loved all the comments here but the one that hit me the most was Caitlin’s. You know, sometimes, God is our only audience. The things we do may go totally unrecognized, or appreciated, but do it anyways, and do it for The Lord!!!!
All the comments just made me think, what is my idol today? What am I putting ahead of The Lord? Relationships, job, insecurities, health, anything and everything that I try to fill my time with cuz I am not happy with where I am at or what I am doing. I soooo need an attitude change!!!
Thanks everyone!!! God bless you all!!!!
Thank you to all who have posted here. I, like so many of you, have found myself forgetting to work to serve the Lord and instead complaining constantly because I’m looking to serve my boss and office instead – people with flaws. I needed this reminder that when my work is truly to please God, I don’t have to worry about the ways that man can make my job difficult. I work for the state government, so that can be extremely trying and I find myself feeling so hopeless sometimes at work. I am so thankful for this opportunity to refocus and realize that I only serve The Lord and he will guide me through all and loves me more than any recognition from my job could ever hope to provide. God Bless all of you ladies on here!
How relevant this is for me right now. my current job has become such a drudgery. I have found myself bored and burned out. there is a lot of gossip and back biting so the past several weeks I have been keeping to myself. the work is not hard and I always complete it on time but I do not enjoy it. the good thing is that I Will be starting another job in a week and I am very excited about it. but I want to remember what I do what I do in the first place. it is for God. it's easy for me to think of my work at church as a calling and ministry but I have complained to God so much about my job. I have forgotten that he gave it to me and he is the only one I need to please. when I do my work unto the Lord,it will not feel so pointless.
God help me to give this last week at my current job to you and when I start my new job let me work at it for you with all my heart!
Lizard2-
Congratulations on your new job! I know it might be hard, but finish strong! Thank you for sharing!
Maria you said what I was thinking. I have made my job and the approval that I need my idol, I have lost sight of The Lord and that I am doing this for him only. I am a few days behind on the study and I see that this is the day that God knew I needed to read this!
When I was younger I was a hard worker always feeling that my problems would go away if I had more money. It wasn’t until I got sick that I realized that if God wanted me to have more than I needed he would provide it for me. So instead of working so hard I became happy in my blessings and my health is now alot better.
SHEREADSTRUTH……I SO LOVE THIS COMMUNITY…..WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE….
I joined the she readstruth community a couple of months ago. Prior to that, I had./have been struggling with things I have done to in the past to a friend who is now gone. Fortunately, she and I had slowly started to become friends again. The shereadstruth community has given me hope that God will forgive me for these past mistakes and will continue to give me the strength to "ward" off negative thoughts. I continue to struggle with these thoughts from the past. The scripture saying, "we work for Christ" speaks volumes to me as I know I have been either working for myself or other people, i.e. trying to fit in etc. Thank you to the shereadstruth community for being here.
i know how you feel Cathy, I so look forward to reading it every day !!~!~~
I don't always love my job, as a lot of people don't always, but it does make it a whole lot better when we know that we aren't working for people, but working for God. It helps me get though my day better. We live each day for him, not for our job or our life, so each day should be praised.
I've been having a lot of trouble with my job. I love my work but not my manager, who, I feel makes me feel inferior each and every day. I have been focusing so much on how to make my job situation better and improving things to ultimately make my career take the course I want it to take…and it has been my focus. My current idol.
I must realize that my job isn't who I am. It doesn't definite me. It is not the most important thing in my life and I should stop stressing over it. And give it up to God. Put him first and my career second. Stop worrying about my future and start worrying about improving my relationship with God. Because when I do that, I believe that it will all fall into place.
thanks Maria….needed to hear this:)
Lord I get it. Its about u. All my gifts and talents. My work is unto you. If I look up concentrate on u then there will be perfection. For I would offer u nothing less.
All things r made perfect n u. Thank u Lord for your word, a lamp to my feet a light to my path. Ladies thank God for this community, God bless u all!
PS. I'm 27! Feeling as though I'm picked to be an example of God's miracles on earth. Wanting to be an example for you ladies and those around me so I can spread the news that Christ saved me and no matter what you're going through you can be saved as well, as long as you believe.
I loved reading this today. Struggling a lot with anxiety dealing with my heart (open heart surgery 6 weeks ago). I go to people around me for advice when I really should be going to Christ first and thanking Him that He chose to bring me closer to Him, closer to trusting Him, by literally "opening my heart" to let Him in! He's jealous of my heart and mind and wants me to come to Him over anyone I trust on earth. This is not easy for me b/c I had a horrific experience leading up to my surgery and am having a hard time trusting in general that I will be ok, but when I let my guard down and REALLY go to Christ for a pep talk, I feel comfort. He can be jealous all He wants because I'm gradually being drawn into Him because his love and his ability to ease my mind is greater than anything I've experienced…it's REAL.
my heart is overwhelmed with what i can only describe as joy as I see God speaking to the hearts of myself, the ladies who created #sherreadstruth and the ladies who read everyday :)
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."
-Colossians 3:23
This spoke volumes to me when I read it, and also when I read the posts on here. I often work at things I do for recognition or to please other people. This is nto what God wants. He is a jealous God. He wants me to work hard only for Him. I needed that message today. I need to stop changing who I am to fit in, or to please other people. I am who God made me to be, and nothing else. I am going to be who He wants me to be, not who the world expects me to be. This is a lesson that I have needed to learn for a long time.
For me personally when I have gotten into relationships, the man I was with replaced God and became my idol. I did everything I could to gain the man's attention and try to make him love me unconditionally where only God can truly fill that gap of my heart. I realize now that I have to fill that gap with God because his love is all knowing and all powerful and will sustain me for the rest of my life. If I continue to replace God with a mere man, I can miss out on a lot of what God has for me and I don't want to do that. I want all of God or nothing at all.
That is an awesome reminder, Shanice! I feel too many times mere humans become idols in my life. It's a good reminder that even the man in our lives should not replace God!!
I really had this verse hit home to me last week. sometimes, we get customers who want a mile if you give them an inch, things we aren't supposed to possibly give them. I do tech support, and we do not do training, yet people try to get it anyway. But I realized, i am not doing this for that customer, to give them what I feel they should not get because they are pulling one over on me, so to pseak. i am doing this for god. and god deserves all I can give Him. I, too, would hate to think what people might see sometimes in my work. ugh!
It is a small sentence but just the reminder I needed. ” It is The Lord Jesus Chriay whom you serve.” I definitely needed this!
There is this great quote by Mother Teresa that I love. These verses remind me of it.
“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”
Often times we wonder why no one sees how "good" we are being or the hard work we are doing. Sometimes my husband doesn't see the hours I spend each week cleaning the house. Or no sees the charity we do. But ya know what, God should be our only audience the rest just doesn't matter. So work for Christ any ways even when it hurts because its not about this world.
Just to add to what I was saying:
I mean that is what I remind myself every day. It can be so HARD to not get the recognition I want. Its a constant struggle for me. But I think we continue to do this and remind ourselves eventually we will get it. I tell God "its a brand new day and I am willing to try again" I think as long as we are doing our best and heading in the right direction we are doing good.
Just wanted to make sure my post didn't come off as: blah blah blah I know best. Because thats not what I meant. God bless ladies!
Amen! There's such a blessing in the ABILITY to serve. You have a husband who loves you (who may or may not notice), you have something, maybe even surplus that allows you to give charity and remain okay. I'm so grateful that we have Christ, a Father and Holy Spirit who will never fail us. I'm so grateful that our hope isn't of this world that is so disappointing and inconsistent.
He asks for our best and I think how often I fail at that ~ in simple things that loom large, like giving him the best part of my day rather than what is left over after my desires are met, the "first fruits" of my labor rather than what I think I can spare, and the list goes on… So thankful that I can go to Him every day to be renewed and begin a new day holy and blameless before Him. Glad He is giving me another chance to let Him dwell in me and I take the back seat!
Elaborating on Claire’s point a bit, I think it’s also important to remember that our ‘work’ on this earth should be pointing people to Christ … more than just praising Him for a good day or crying out to Him for a bad one, people should be able to watch our work and see it as an example of Christ’s work in our lives. I shudder to think of all the times my work might have caused others to run in the other direction …
Tonya what an awesome post. I am new in my walk and I have learned so much by studying God's word and i'm going to be honest I have been doing it all wrong. I am one of those people who praised him for a good day and cried out to him for my bad days and not realizing that I need to praise him through good and through bad. I have learned that I need to live for God and not for others and I need to walk in a light that people see him coming and it's just little ole' me. Thank you for in essence checking me on this.
Such a reminder to me when things are complicated and tense at work, that I can have peace and hope, knowing that I do not serve anyone except our Lord. Thanks for this reminder today. May you be blessed and encouraged today, ladies.
Thank u Lord for your word. U never leave us empty. You woke me up at 3 am to speak to me. Your Word is a lamp unto my feet, a light on my path.
Thank u for speaking into my situation. Lord I work, design,implement,create unto u I must trust u as David did we came upon Saul sleeping n the cave. I give this thing to you. Thank u for the platform and opportunity to touch lives n Jesus name.
Going forth n victory! Amen
v24: Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,
I think it is so easy to get caught up in the first part of verse 23
Working with all our heart, all our energy and feeling like we are doing a pretty good job -I often find myself tagging God onto the end. I’ve done well but I give it over to you God because you deserve the glory. We forget that God wants to be much more involved than that!
It took a horrible situation at work yesterday for me to realise not once in my troubles had I cried out to God. He doesn’t just want to be tagged on the end even if its for praise. He wants to be right there alongside us, better than that acting through us! In order to bring about his kingdom on earth.
V.24: since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.