Question: How do you serve Jesus when you hate your job?
Answer: It depends on why you hate your job. Do you hate your job because you are lazy and would rather play your Wii in your mom’s basement? Do you hate your job because you have a greater vision for what God is calling you to do? Are you working toward it? Maybe your job sucks because you are not doing anything to work toward that goal.
When I was working for UPS and was a janitor at the church, I didn’t like either job, but I did it while we planted Living Stones and while I went to Bible College. I was working toward my dream—so cleaning crap off toilets didn’t look so bad in the short term (after all, it was great training for cleaning up crap within the church!). This went on for 5 long years. But I wouldn’t trade anything for the character that was built in those years. It was all God’s prep for my current position.
Regardless of your occupation, the Scriptures command that “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Col. 3:23). If you are hating your job and whining about it… stop! God has given you a way to make income, which is something to be thankful for—especially these days.
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Question: If God is so loving and compassionate, why is it that most of the Christians I meet are the most self-centered people I know?
Answer: Why are some Christians some of the most self-centered people you know? Because they are not obeying Jesus… Are you?
Remember—God saves sinners! This means that those in the church are both fallen and redeemed at the same time. Be patient with them the same way God is patient with you. Spend more time praying for them rather than criticizing them. Ask God to show you how self-centered you are so that you will be more prone to forgive. The only way to survive in a world of ‘hypocrisy’ is to cast out the hypocrisy in yourself and ask God to do through you what you don’t see being done through others. Although self-centeredness if not okay, there is no room for self-righteousness on this issue. It’s only by His work on the cross that we can love others in the first place.
