god at work

Regarding man glorifying God through his work, John Piper posits that "humans are morally self-conscious and make choices about their work on the basis of motives that may or may not honor God."

I often thought of honoring God at work as having a good work ethic and performing with joy and excellence. Piper challenges us to think beyond that. He notes that "no beaver ponders the divine pattern of order and beauty and makes a moral choice to pursue excellence because God is excellent. No beaver ever pondered the preciousness and purpose of God and decided for God's sake to make a dam for another beaver and not for himself."

True that our work should be with excellence but many animals do their "work" with excellence but sums up the important difference between us and animals in this, "the essence of our work as humans must be that it is done in conscious reliance on God's power, and in conscious quest of God's pattern of excellence, and in deliberate aim to reflect God's glory."

How aware are we of our utter dependance on God? How often do we put God's will before the question of what is best for our "business" or "industry"?

The other slant on this topic is to be a witness in the work place. Again Piper provides valuable insight, "our work is not the beautiful woman but the necklace. The beautiful woman is the Gospel." The question of our secular work is will it "increase or decrease the attractiveness of the Gospel we profess before unbelievers."

People need to know we are Christians and in the end, they need to hear a true Gospel account on which to place faith. But our manner of work can either add or detract from the appearance of that Gospel.

So now as I work, I consider my dependance on the Father, what He wants accomplished in that effort, and how will it appear to the world as they consider His truth.

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