The prophet Haggai wrote, “Consider your ways.”1 In other words, think! We are commanded to think about what we are doing! Why? Because God created us to do something great and if we do not stop and figure out what that is, the work we do will be futile. Read the introduction to Haggai’s sermon. He said, “Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways.”2
Until we consider our ways and find out what we were created to do, our work will leave us unsatisfied, longing for more. God has created us for a specific work, “for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”3 This good work is uniquely ours. It is our life goal and it is our daily chore. It is our spiritual gift and it is our physical labor. And the good news is this: “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”4 Unlike us humans, God always finishes what he begins.
So what is our role? Just two things: Think about (consider) what our task is, and then begin doing the work. That’s it. Oh, and never cease doing that work! There is no retirement plan in God’s kingdom. Our work is never done. We are simply to do our jobs! If we do our part, God promises this: “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me.”5 This is great news! No matter how many times we falter, the purpose for the work will be attained. What God wants to accomplish will occur. We do not have the power to interfere with that. He is greater than our mistakes!
And then we must remember this. When our work seems insurmountable and the point of it all is blurred, we must “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, [our] labor is not in vain.”6 Though the work is hard at times, we are promised that our efforts will not be ineffectual. We are not in charge of results; we are not in charge of others; we are in charge of us. And us? We are simply to do our job!
One of God’s great gifts is the work he has given us to do. The work is where we not only discover our purpose but we know (and sometimes see) that our purpose has eternal effects. Our work matters! Our life counts! Paul says that “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.”7 God “works all things” so that they align with his plan. Even the wrong things we do can be used to fit into the master plan. Paul wrote to Timothy: “Fulfill your ministry.”8 The same is true for us. God implores us: Do your job!
1Haggai 1:5 2Haggai 1:5-7 3Ephesians 2:10 4Philippians 1:6 5Psalm 138:8 61 Corinthians 15:58 7Ephesians 1:11 82 Timothy 4:5