Working for Audience of One

Do you ever face frustrations and demotivation at your work-place? In all circumstances, how can we work without losing a sense of purpose and motivation every day? How can our work become a joyful and passionate endeavor instead of something we must do to pay for our bills?

Recently, I had a conversation with one of my co-workers at my company. Whenever I see him, he always work passionately, joyfully, and thankfully. Not only that, he brings high quality of excellence to everything he does. Even in difficult circumstances, he remains optimistic and infuses positive influence on all of us. When things go bad, he is the first one to own the responsibility and work toward the improvements. So, I asked him this question, "What is secret to your work ethic? How come you are able to work always with passion, dedication, and excellence?"

He replied: "Hey Paul,

I don't work for anyone, anybody, or money. I work for only one audience, my God. At the end of the day, when I go home, I want to be able to say, 'I gave everything for my Lord,' without a regret."

For my friend, he is taking his work as a mean to honor and worship God. That's why, in all circumstances, he always tries to give his 100%, because for him his work is worship to the Lord.

One question that we need to ask is, "Who do we work for?" If we work for money, then we will always be frustrated by the people who make more than us. If we work to please people, then we will be demotivated to work when someone else is getting promoted. But, if we work for God, then whether we get paid a lot or little, whether we get promoted or not, we will be always giving 100% because our work is directed to the Lord. Paul tells in Ephesians 6 to the workers not to work "by the way of eye-service," or as "people-pleasures," but as "servants of Christ" (verse 6). The human boss may not see everything that we do at our work, but God does.

Next time, when we are frustrated at our work, let us ask these questions, "Who do we work for?" and "What do we work for?" May our worship of God be the motivation for our work every day.