A task at work that I had to do recently meant that I had to be up from 10pm to 3am on a quiet roadside. The stars were out in their full splendour and coincidentally, it was a full moon night. The men that were working with me had to cut and weld different sections of a pipe network and the job had to be finished before the break of day.
I observed the men intently as they sweated through the task and I wondered if they actually loved their jobs or if they were just out to make ends meet. On this particular night, their supervisor was not a particularly nice man and they actually did not enjoy working with him. Still observing them, I thought of what Paul told the Colossians: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” (Col 3:23 NIV).
Did this kind of situation cross his mind when he was saying that? Did He actually mean whatever? Did He know that I may be working for an obnoxious boss, whose major goal in life is to make my life miserable? Does whatever include waking up early, getting stuck in traffic, toiling all day chasing targets and at the end being told that you are not good enough? What about working so hard and being denied promotion?
It’s difficult to pick yourself up each morning if you have to go back to that thankless job every day. You dread lifting your sleepy head out of bed in the morning when you think of your boss. I can imagine how you feel, but this kind of feeling may actually be hurting you. It will most likely lock up the ‘creative you’ and set the ‘grumpy you’ free. You may never become the best that you can be because you have completely handed your ascent over to your boss. Other areas of your life as well as other people in your life begin to take the hit. You transfer aggression to them regularly and you leave them wondering what they have done to deserve the lashing.
No matter how terrible or how nice your own ‘Whatever’ may be, God feels your pulse. And the truth is that whatever really means whatever in that passage. The message translation of that verse says: “And don’t just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance.” God had you in mind when He was saying that. I’m sure you will feel better if you always keep in mind who the real BOSS is. You will be surprised at the changes that will accompany this realization and yes, His grace is sufficient for you.
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