Best of Daily Reflections: Pay Careful Attention to Your Own Work

If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct.

Galatians 6:3-6

So often we get tired or bored or frustrated with our work situation, thinking that there is supposed to be a better life for us somewhere else. The proverbial grass-is-greener mindset plagues our culture.

There’s nothing wrong with a healthy desire to grow, and, in fact, God often calls us to break away from the familiar and comfortable to set out on new paths. But we can get so caught up with that next move that we lose sight of the opportunities right in front of us.

Once I was complaining to a friend about the frustrations and limitations of my job, my desire to break free and move on. I’ll never forget his advice: “You have so much right in front of you that you haven’t taken advantage of yet. Why aren’t you doing more?” The truth was, I was afraid and worried about stepping into some challenges at the current job that were required to move forward and instead wanted to escape somewhere else.

When I started to pay careful attention to my own work, as Paul says, opportunities started to reveal themselves.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: Whether you think so or not, you are in a unique position at your job. Have you taken advantage of every opportunity before you? Have you asked God to reveal his unique purpose for you at your job today? This month? This year?

PRAYER: Lord, we confess our insatiable desire for newer, better, more fulfilling, leaving us constantly dissatisfied and blinded towards what you have graciously given us already. You are a God of abundance and generosity, giving to each an outpouring of goodness that may simply be buried under our discounted dreams. Help us to discover the incredible gifts you have laid before our feet and to relish in them. Thank you for your goodness. Amen.

P.S. by Mark Roberts: At certain times throughout the year, I invite others to write a few Daily Reflections. This week's reflections will be written by J. B. Wood. In addition to being a Content Editor for The High Calling, J. B. is a Senior Vice President of a large business in the Northeast. At Shrinking the Camel J. B. regularly confronts the challenges of integrating professional life and spiritual life with humor. His most recent book is At Work As It Is In Heaven: 25 Ways to Re-Imagine the Spiritual Purpose of Your Work. I know you will be encouraged by J. B.’s reflections on Galatians 6. I'll be back with you on Saturday.