What is the purpose of work? Why is it so easy for work to turn from joy to drudgery? How do we glorify God on the job? 1. God created us to work. Genesis 1 speaks of how God created the world and saw that it was good which shows that God works and creates and is excited about His work and creation. Genesis further talks about how God created us to work the earth and produce a living. He put us in the Garden of Eden to work and take care of it. God knows that when we work we receive a great deal of significance, self-respect, dignity, and joy that comes from doing a job well done. When we don't, we lose those traits. We aren't to be workaholics; God created the Sabbath for rest.

2. We glorify God as we obey Christ in our work. We can make a difference in this world by working with integrity and honesty on the job and obeying God in all that we do in a world where good and evil are so tightly intertwined. When we are confronted with ethical decisions, we have the following options: we either sell out, compromise wisely, negotiate with our employer, or we quit. In Daniel 1, Daniel displayed that he was reasonable with his employer by trying to understand the motivations behind his request. We are to think clearly and wisely and very thoughtfully consider whether we can meet the motives of our employers requests and at the same time maintain our integrity.

3. Work is to be balanced with witness and worship. Balance is key. We are to respect our employer but ultimately our employer is God. We are followers of Christ on the job and how we respond to unfairness speaks volumes to those we work with.

4. God created us to serve and working is one of the key ways that we serve Christ by serving others. God is a worker and a servant. Work is not validated by the size of our paychecks but rather how we can use our jobs to serve Christ and others.

5. The way we deal with the stress of work is by growing in gratefulness to God, understanding that God has called us and growing in contentment. When we are armed with these traits, God will protect us from stress and keep us in perfect peace.

6. God has not created us to be unimaginative robots but rather God has created us to do our work with excellence, to be problem solvers; for God is a problem solver. God is a resourceful god who has put the broken pieces of our shattered lives back together through the death and resurrection of Christ. When we problem solve we are being like God. We must use our occupations in the service of Christ.

Summary submitted by Karen Walsh