I Make: With My Hands

“You can quit your job, but you can’t quit your calling.” – Lissa Rankin

There is some irony to be found in the fact that we as Christians are called to use our jobs to glorify God, and yet many of us would sooner call our jobs a curse rather than a blessing. Don't get me wrong, I completely understand the sentiment. In college, I worked at AutoZone for a while, and I remember how cool I thought it would be to work with and on cars. I went in so excited. But by the 2nd shift, I quickly realized how unbelievably monotonous and repetitive the job was. I wouldn't be working on cars, I would be standing behind a computer ordering parts, or changing the bulb on a brake light for the 27th time that day. Quickly, the thrill of getting a job, of seeing it as a blessing both financially and in terms of fulfillment, all wore off. 
And yet, Colossians 3:23 tells us, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord and not for men." A clear charge to Christians to clock in and clock out each day as though serving the Lord our God with every second of a shift. 

But how?

I think there is a drastic difference in satisfaction and fulfillment. In a fascinating study, the Pew Research Institute looked into American job satisfaction and found that a little over 51% of us are "satisfied" with our overall job. While I do believe in the old bit of wisdom, "Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life," I don't think we should be looking to our jobs as sources of fulfillment. Fulfillment is an entirely different category, one that deserves its own focus. 
Whether it's expecting our kids, our spouse, our hobby, or our job to fulfill us, we confuse the need we have and the source with which it can be filled. If we go expecting these things to fulfill us, we are not only setting ourselves up for failure, we're setting them up for failure as well. Kids, spouses, and jobs can add to our happiness, they can give us clarity and direction and bring us all kinds of wonderful moments and memories. But, plain and simple, they cannot be the thing that fulfills us. 
Look at Philippians 4:19: "My God will meet every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Paul makes it clear that this is a need that only a relationship with Christ, the fulfillment of His love and grace, can ever fill for us. We can expect our jobs to respect us and utilize our talents and potential, but we can't always find ourselves clocking in with the hopes that this is what will fulfill us. 
At this point, I wouldn't blame you for saying, "That's easy for you, a Pastor, to say!" But this is a lesson I'm continually having to relearn for myself. Go to any church, any congregation, find the Pastor, and ask him or her when the last time was that they sat down to worship. My guess would be the answer is, "rarely." For too long, I looked to my duties as a Pastor to be a fulfillment substitute for what can only come from an ever-growing relationship with my Savior. Preaching won't fulfill me. Hospital visits, wedding and funeral services, teaching Sunday School classes, all of it is good and necessary and most certainly a calling I feel in my life. But every bit of it pales in comparison to the fulfillment that Christ and my relationship with Him and only Him can bring. 

I want you to ease off the expectations you place on your job today, and instead throttle down on your pursuit of fulfillment through God alone. You were not meant to work a 9-5, that's a side project compared to your true meaning; you were meant to worship, in anything and everything you do. There, and only there, will you find true fulfillment.