Where do people in the pews on Sunday spend the majority of their time throughout the week?  At work, of course!  Yet according to Dr. David Miller, executive director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture at Yale Divinity School and assistant professor of business ethics, “My research shows that sermons seldom wrestle with biblical teachings and theologies of work, which is where most people in the pews are spending their time.”

My advice?  Stop waiting around for someone to hand-feed you with a biblical theology of work.  If Dr. Miller is right, you might be waiting a VERY long time.  Besides, it will mean more to you if you’ll pick up the Bible and do the hard work of studying it for yourself. 

Working as a hospital pharmacist during the last several years, I decided to make Colossians 3:22-24 my own “philosophy of work.”  Substituting the words “employees” and “employers” for “slaves” and “masters,” I typed it out on my computer and taped it to the back of my name badge:

[Employees], obey in everything those who are your earthly [employers], not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Whenever I began to get frustrated, angry, or to get that nagging sense of “futility” that the daily grind sometimes brings, I would just look at the back of my name badge and meditate on those verses of Scripture. It helped me to remember that all of life must be lived unto God.  Our work is no exception.  Note again, the verse from Colossians states, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord…” Why?  Because if you’re a Christian, you ARE doing it for the Lord:  “You are serving the Lord Christ” (v. 24). 

Whether you are a nurse, a physician, a housekeeper, a janitor, a maintenance man, etc, any and all honorable work is to be done “as for the Lord.”  Did you get that!??  What an honor and a privilege!

Why don’t you try implementing Colossians 3:22-24 into your daily routine.  See if “name badge theology” doesn’t work for you, too.