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Find Purpose in Mundane Work
As a low-level employee doing mundane tasks, how can I find purpose in my work?
“Does this really matter?”
The teenager at a fast-food restaurant wonders this while delivering another hamburger. The parent of a toddler ponders this while wiping down the kitchen counter for the fourth time that day. The receptionist asks this while forwarding calls to those in more respected positions within the building.
Everyone wants to see purpose in the work they do. It’s why leaders aim to ensure every team member understands how their work supports larger initiatives. As Christians, we long for even more than a healthy bottom line. We desire a life that is pleasing to God and furthers the kingdom. So when we feel our work is mundane or lacks significance, we ask the question:
“Does this really matter?”
Perhaps what we need most is not a reminder that our work matters, but a reminder that God’s work matters. And he has invited us into his work (Eph. 2:10). No matter our Monday through Friday setting, if we participate in God’s work, we can be alert to both the lies of the world and the truth of God’s ways.
Worldly Lies About Work
Much of our dissatisfaction with mundane tasks stems from messages we’re receiving from our culture. It’s important to guard our hearts against several common corruptions.
Individualism
Our culture celebrates and encourages individualism. We’re told to chase and create our own happiness, follow our heart, and find ourselves. Naturally, this leads us to chase more significance for ourselves at work—choosing the best tasks, obsessing over raises, or, if we work at home, portraying ourselves as perfect on social media. We often do these at the expense of serving those around us and resting in the significance of our Father. He is the one worth promoting, celebrating, and glorifying.
Discontentment
When we chase material possessions or earthly rewards, we’re never satisfied. This is why you can have a six-figure income and a corner office and still feel frustrated and purposeless. Instead, God invites us to rest in his provision and to live a quiet life (1 Thes. 4:11). When we do this, he gives us a peace that lasts even when washing dishes, taking fast-food orders, or shelving library books.
Distraction
What starts as a strong work ethic can morph into an obsession with finding significance and security through work. Our culture tells us that getting after it and organizing our time better will let us control and direct our own lives. We hear that being indispensable is a way to gain promotion. Good things can become idols, and we can become so busy running our own lives that we have no time or desire to listen and submit to God.
Conformity
The desire to fit in with our colleagues means we often value what they do. When they complain about the boss, show up late, or do half-hearted work, they’re devaluing the job. That can make us, too, wonder if we need to show up on time or work heartily as unto the Lord (Col. 3:23).
Biblical Truth About Work
The world tends to value our work based on power, prestige, or income. Those aren’t the same qualifiers God uses.
When we examine Scripture, we see:
God works.
From the beginning, God himself works and enjoys his work, calling it “good.” He does all manner of tasks, from small (designing the respiratory system of a tick) to big (sending his Son into the world to save humanity). Some of his tasks he does once, but we see that many of them—from the changing of the seasons to the stirring of human hearts—he repeats again and again.
God planned for man to work hard from the start.
Even before the fall, God gave man a directive to work (Gen. 1:28, Gen. 2:15). We do this to bring order to a chaotic world, to provide for our families (1 Tim. 5:8), to support the work of the church (2 Cor. 9:7), and to care for those in need (Prov. 22:9). We can do all those things from a C-suite, a mid-level management office, or a warehouse floor.
God plans for man to work in the future.
When Jesus comes back, the work we do now will be shown, judged, and refined (2 Pet. 3:10-13). What does that mean for our shelf stocking, babysitting, or weed pulling? Peter tells us to live in “holiness and godliness” (v. 11), which could look like praying for your co-workers, honoring your manager, showing up on time, working diligently, and being kind to those around you. To those who are faithful with little, Jesus will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” and set them over much (Matt. 25:23).
God looks at different things than man does.
When Samuel saw David’s older brother Eliab, he was sure this tall and handsome man would be Israel’s next leader. But God chose the smallest and youngest son. “Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart,” God told Samuel.
God is not different today (Heb. 13:8). He is still more concerned with our hearts than the job we have or the possessions we can acquire through it. The next time you’re at work, examine your heart: did you take a longer break than you should have? Did you slide halfheartedly through some of your tasks, leaving more work for the shift after you? Was your heart angry because your co-worker was slow? Mundane tasks often give us a rich opportunity for sanctification.
As you examine yourself, remember that your chief purpose is to know God, enjoy him, and share his good news with a dark world.
None of those core purposes for the Christian life require us to work in a specific vocation, to sit on a certain rung of the company ladder, or to have the adoration and admiration of others.
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