Daily Work As A Good Work

Excerpts from Matt Perman post:  Your Job is a Good Work! 

When most of us think of good works, we tend to think of things like giving money to those in need, encouraging a friend who is discouraged, or going on a short-term mission trip.

All of those things are critical and important, and definitely are good works.

However, it’s easy to think that these types of things are the only things that God considers good works. That good works are something relatively rare and infrequent. If you go on a mission trip, you are engaging in good works. But when you go to your job each day you are doing … what, exactly?

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Most of us are familiar with Ephesians 2:8-10: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

We aren’t saved by good works, but for good works. And living a life of good works is part of the purpose of the Christian life.

Now, if you head over to Ephesians 6:5-8, you find Paul speaking to the issue of our daily work — and you find a parallel that I don’t think a lot of people have picked up on. You see this in verse 8, where he says that we are to do our work “knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord.”

Here’s what’s interesting: In 2:10, Paul said that God created us in Christ “for good works.” Now, here in 6:8, he refers to our daily work as “good” (or, as some translations put it, a “good thing”). This is a clear allusion back to 2:10, where Paul spoke of “good works” as part of the purpose for which God created us anew in Christ.

In other words, Paul is referring to our daily work as a “good work.” The things we do in our jobs are not simply neutral things, but rather are among the good works that God prepared beforehand for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). They are not just things we have to do; they are good works that are pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ.

This gives new significance to the things we do every day. It means that when we are answering emails, we aren’t just answering emails–we are doing good works. When we go to meetings, we aren’t just going to meetings–we are doing good works. When we make dinner for the family and put the kids to bed, we aren’t just making dinner and putting the kids to bed–we are doing good works.

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