Work as Witness
๐ช๐๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐ฃ
โข Share a time when you felt proud about something youโve done at work.ย
โข What qualities do you think someone needs to have to be considered hardworking?
โข If you were to tell someone about your work, how would you describe it?ย
๐ช๐ข๐ฅ๐
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ, โ๐๐ฆ๐ต ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ.โ ๐๐ฐ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ, ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ; ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ. ๐๐๐ก๐๐ฆ๐๐ฆ ๐ญ:๐ฎ๐ฒโ๐ฎ๐ณ
Work is a blessing from God and one of the ways we worship Him. But Godโs purpose for our work goes beyond our personal worship. From the beginning, He created us in His image to represent Him in the world. How does our work become a witness to God? Letโs look at two ways we can use our work to bear witness to Him.
๐ญ. ๐ช๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐๐ถ๐๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ณ๐น๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ผ๐ฑโ๐ ๐ถ๐บ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ, โ๐๐ฆ๐ต ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ.โ ๐๐๐ก๐๐ฆ๐๐ฆ ๐ญ:๐ฎ๐ฒ
God created us in His image to represent Him in the world. As His image bearers, we are called to reflect His character in everything we do, including our work. Like God, we have the ability to think and reason, distinguish between right and wrong, and express ourselves through our emotions, will, and creativity. We also have the ability to create, love, and care for creation. When we use these God-given abilities with integrity, wisdom, love, and care for others, we faithfully represent the God whose image we bear. Our work, therefore, is more than a means of earning a living. It is one of the ways we bear witness to God by displaying His character to the world. How have you seen someone reflect Godโs character through the way they work?
๐ฎ. ๐ช๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐๐ถ๐๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐ฑโ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ.
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ, โ๐๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ถ๐ช๐ต๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ช๐ฑ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ.โ ๐๐๐ก๐๐ฆ๐๐ฆ ๐ญ:๐ฎ๐ด
(Read also ๐๐๐ก๐๐ฆ๐๐ฆ ๐ฎ:๐ญ๐ฑ.)
God is the Creator of heaven and earth, yet He graciously chose to involve humanity in caring for His creation. He blessed them and commanded them to ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ถ๐ช๐ต๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ช๐ฑ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต. This was more than a command to populate the earth. God entrusted humanity, as His image bearers, with the privilege and responsibility of cultivating, governing, and caring for His creation so that His goodness would be reflected throughout the earth. Genesis 2:15 shows what this commission looked like as God placed Adam in the garden ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ช๐ต. Godโs work is not limited to what we do in the church or in ministry. He also works through the faithful work we do each day as we carry out the responsibilities He has entrusted to us. When we do our work well, we bless others, reflect Godโs goodness, and bear witness to Him. Can you share a time when someoneโs good work caused you to glorify God or appreciate His goodness, as Jesus describes in Matthew 5:16?
๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก
โข How does knowing that work is a blessing for us, others, and creation encourage you today? Think of at least one way your work makes an impact not just on your family but in your community.ย
โข What do you think excellence will look like in your work? How may you pursue excellence in your work that will glorify God and be a witness to others this week?ย
โข As His image-bearers, how do you think God is calling you and your small group to care for His creation? Think of a simple act that can help you pursue this today.ย
๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐๐ฅ
โข Thank God for creating us in His image and for His call for us to be His representatives to the world. Pray that you would see your work as one of the avenues to reflect His goodness and care to those around you.ย
โข Ask God for wisdom, discipline, and perseverance to be the kind of stewards of creation He wants us to be. May we also influence and encourage others to do the same.ย
โข Pray that as we reflect Godโs image and fulfill His command to fill the earth and take dominion, more people and the rest of creation will benefit and experience His goodness. May more people put their faith in Jesus and glorify Him.ย