Our Work Versus Our Value

Most men base their value in what they can do with their knowledge, abilities, hands or a combination of the two. I was no different. If the job I was tasked to accomplished failed or did not meet the standards, I considered it a personal affront to me as an individual. That all changed on March 3rd, 2001. I went from being a man of the world to a child of the living God. On that day the transformation of understanding who I am in Him and the value He places on my life began.

At first it was difficult to transition from being defined by my work, my possessions or my knowledge. I struggled to understand how I could have value to anyone by simply being alive. On March 3rd and the days, weeks and months that followed, He showed me His grace, mercy and forgiveness through my wife, children and friends. I had failed at being a husband and father. I was defined by my failures. It was in that moment His love surrounded my life. He wanted me to understand how much I meant to Him and showed me that through my family and friends.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 6, 25-28 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

The journey continues today. I always bring my ‘A’ game to everything I do in life. Sometimes I hit a home run, other times it’s a slow roller to first base for an easy out. Regardless, I do not allow setbacks to define who I am. I wrote the other day, I do my best and leave God the rest. I am defined by how He sees me, not how I see myself.

Blessings

Our Work Versus Our Value
by Os Hillman

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Genesis 2:15

Man was created to have seven basic needs. Each of us has a need for dignity, authority, blessing and provision, security, purpose and meaning, freedom and boundary, intimate love and companionship. When we go outside God’s provision to meet these needs, we get into trouble.

Every man has a need to work and gain satisfaction in caring and seeing something come from his efforts. Many of our basic needs are derived from our work; it was one of the first acts God did for man in the Garden of Eden. He gave him responsibility to care for and work the Garden. God knew man needed to be productive. He needed to gain satisfaction from his work.

The danger of this is when we allow our work to be our complete source of purpose and meaning in life. This leads to a performance-based life. A performance-based life says, “As long as I perform in my work, I am acceptable to myself and others.” This is a subtle trap for all of us. It can lead us to become workaholics if we are seeking acceptance through what we do. Sometimes this can be on a subconscious basis.

Our value must be centered in Christ, not in what we do. If we lose our job or our business, this should not devastate us if we are centered in Him. It will certainly create difficulties, but God is the orchestrator of all the events in our lives for His purposes. Even difficult times have purposes.

Today, ask the Lord if you have a proper balance in your work life. Is Christ the central focus? If you work long hours, ask yourself why. You might discover that God may not be the central focus.