Taking It to Work:
When little kids see a caterpillar, they see just that, a caterpillar. When an entomologist sees a caterpillar, he sees much more. He sees the butterfly or moth that the caterpillar is about to become. Both the caterpillar and the butterfly share the exact same DNA, but the change in appearance is unmistakable. The appetite changes too. No longer does the creature crave the host plants of its earlier life, but it uses its new wings to find what it could not reach before, the sweet nectar plants of its new life.
When we bow before the Lord, confessing Him as our Savior, some of our attributes stay the same as well. Same DNA, and in our case same appearance, at least for now, but the Bible teaches that we have become a completely new creation. A startling spiritual metamorphous occurs that moves us from a flesh-driven nature, to a Spirit-driven nature, to the point where even what we want in life changes radically. We move from the thoughts and desires of mere man, to the thoughts and desires of our Creator God.
But guess what? We can’t fly away from all of the caterpillars. And because we can’t, and because we don’t really look any different physically from the other caterpillars, it is easy to continue to eat, act and feel like we are still one of the them. After all, we still work at the same job, know the same people, and the same name is on our mailbox. We may feel a difference internally, but when we get to work, there’s the same workload, the same pay, and the same title on our business cards.
Paul says to put off the old self and put on the new. How do we do that at work? Here’s two thoughts: 1) Think higher thoughts of yourself. You may have studied to become an accountant, mechanic, or entrepreneur, but this no longer defines you. You are much more. By His grace, you are now a disciple with much higher, eternal work to accomplish while you are here. In fact, the Bible says that’s why you were re-created in Christ. And 2) Think higher and deeper. It’s no longer about career, a paycheck and worldly accomplishments. Ask God for His higher and deeper vision for your life, and then live it out everywhere you go, including work.
What was the work of Jesus? What was the work of Paul? What work took center stage in the pages of their lives? You would not say that the main work of Jesus was carpentry, and you would not say that the main work of Paul was tent making. Now they may have worked right next to people that defined themselves that way, but not our Lord, and not Paul, not you either.
For us who are called and redeemed by God, our education, experience and titles only become a means which pays for the necessities and a few comforts of life. Our workplace is a platform, Monday through Friday, to be the salt and light we are called to be in our Biblical job description!
Let’s raise our eyes to the nectar. We are a new creation, because the Word Himself, has done a great work in us!
2 Cor 5:17 (ESV) – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Eph 4:22 (ESV) – to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires…
Eph 2:10 (ESV) – For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
1 Cor 2:16 (ESV) -For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Listening to the Holy Spirit (Rhema):
All creatures are of My hand, the beast and bird, the fish and insect. All are given life and purpose of being. Each a part of the whole, balanced by My hand in obedience to their work. So too you, created and saved that the work of the Kingdom would glow as a flame from your heart. I have chosen you for such. The role of the redeemed is beyond that of a mere creature, set apart that you would know and love He who brings you life, and also to carry out the great works of eternity. The creatures do not respond, but only to the way of their kind. You are much more than these, for the response to the Father’s call in My Name brings even from men, a new kind, one of the reflection of He who has created all. Move now in the way of this new kind, no longer bound by instinct and bodily urge, but raised to the mind of Christ, called higher in thought and heart; much more now you are. Live in My light. Turn away from the old, and come. Follow, that My ways would be yours, and My work also your own.
