More than just work

James 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.

There is no more powerful weapon in the world than the tongue. There is no one of any age that has not experienced both praise and pain from the same source. Even as children we can say simple things that we do not even understand, that sting those direct words that come at us in the brutal honesty of children, ie: “Dad you are fat.” That same child that warmed our heart with their love at 3yrs old, just did immeasurable damage in four words. Satan at work in our youngest children with habits and words that sting all the way through life. I am just as guilty as any of you if not worse. I experienced an incredible twofold attack yesterday from Satan in making fun of my faith, and my faith based business. He dealt a painful blow that truly hurt from the sources he used, and they had no idea how deeply they were being used.

I was encouraged this morning to find one of the first daily devotional’s God ever used in my life was about secular ministry. It was also from the scripture I have on the side of my truck. God has used Os Hillman’s ministry greatly in my life; I attended a workshop he had in Atlanta and was forever changed by God. Where God has you five days a week is your ministry. How you conduct yourself at work as a Christian is your ministry. If you too are persecuted, you too are blessed.

Here is the TGIF (Today God Is First) devo for today.

Your Secular Work Is Ministry

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving (Col 3:23-25).
I sat across the table from the well known seminary professor and former missionary as he asked me a very direct question: “So, Os, tell me about this faith at work movement.” “Well, there’s really nothing complicated about it. I believe every person’s work can be viewed as a ministry if done with a motive to glorify God based upon Colossians 3:23,” I responded. “How can you say that if you’re not sharing the gospel in that job? You would have to be actively sharing your faith for it to be construed as ministry,” he argued. “No, that’s not true. The work itself is ministry because the word for ministry and service come from the same Greek root word, diakonia. When you are serving others even through your secular work and do it with a motive to glorify God, that’s why it is ministry. In fact, the Bible says you’ll receive an inheritance when you do,” I said. We continued bantering back and forth on the issue. I continued, “God created even secular work to meet human needs. Man began to divide work into spiritual and non-spiritual terms which introduced a form of dualism in the third and fourth centuries. But God never secularized our work. He desires our work to be viewed as worship.”
We concluded our meeting in disagreement. However, a few months later I met my friend at a booksellers convention. “Hey, you were right Os! I’ve done my study and work really is ministry because it is service. This man went on to write a book on the subject and said this; “Think about this. If you are filling someone’s teeth, you are ministering to your patient. If you are playing in a symphony orchestra, you are ministering to the audience. If you are flying an airplane, you are ministering to the passengers. If you wait on tables, you are ministering to the customers. All of that clearly fits under biblical diakonia.”
It was the first time I’d ever won a theological argument with a theologian!