Put Your Heart into It

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DAY 3 – Put Your Heart into It

 

Ephesians 6:5

Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ.

  

In Today’s society, most people don’t put their heart into their work. In fact, research shows that 80% of Americans hate their jobs, and will change jobs 7-8 times before the age of 30.  Many feel they are in dead-end jobs or doing something they don’t love. According to a Gallup poll, 71% of Millennials (born 1984-98) aren’t engaged at work, and 60% of them are looking for a way to leave! That’s scary, especially because they make up the majority of the workforce. Why do so many not have their heart into it? What does God’s word when he says “with a sincere heart”?

 

What does it mean to put your heart into it? The word “heart” in the Greek is “kardia”, and is the same word Jesus used in his greatest commands: to love God with all of one’s heart (Matthew 22:37). It’s also where we get our word “cardio”. It means the inner self, the heart, mind, or will. It’s not simply an emotional response to one’s work, but rather it’s a decisive choice to work at something. As the Apostle Paul says to the church in Colossae, “Whatever you do, work heartily”. He uses the word “psyche”, which refers to the inner self, life, person; it’s the life-force for the believer, and can refer to the inner part of the person much like the soul that thinks, wills, feels, and desires. The point that Paul makes here is that for the bondservant (which could be translated for practical purposes to employees) should work being invested, not simply going through the motions, but engaging the mind, utilizing the gifts of speech, and coordination of one’s hands, incorporating all of one’s faculties in the labor, doing all for the sake of the Lord.

 

Howard Thurman, author, pastor, and Civil Rights Leader, once said, “Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

 

When the world sees passionless Christians, there is nothing more damaging to the witness of the church. We must rekindle the heart of work, seeing it as a divine design, knowing it’s not a curse, but rather a gift from God. For in the Genesis account we find at the creation of mankind, Adam was created and put into the garden to work. Work is not something we do just to get by, it’s something we do for the good of others, ourselves, and the glory of God. For as the Apostle Paul said to the church in Ephesus, “We are created for good works!” God has made us to do something, and that something is where we will spend some 90,000 hours of our lives. What are you doing? Take a minute today, and ask God to help you raise your standard on how you view your work. If it’s a job you hate, look for a new one… but thank God for the income it brings. If it’s a job you love, thank God for it and keep doing it. If It’s a job you need, thank God that he hears your prayers and ask him for help today!