Useful Bible Studies > Colossians Commentary > chapter 3

Christian attitudes to work

Colossians 3:23

Many people complain as they do their work. They complain that their wages are not enough. They complain that other people do not appreciate their efforts. They say that they hate their work. They protest that their life is too hard.

Such people may be making their work even harder by their bad attitude to it. However, the things that they say may actually be true. If someone works only for money, then no amount of pay can ever be enough. If someone works only to impress other people, their reaction will never satisfy him. That is because nothing in this world can ever truly satisfy a person (John 4:13-14; John 6:49-51). God made people to have a spirit as well as a body. Therefore, only a right relationship with God can truly satisfy a person.

So, a Christian should have a different attitude to his work in this world. He is not just using his body in order to satisfy what that body needs. He uses his whole person, spirit and body, to work – because his work affects the relationship between his spirit and God. In other words, he wants to make his relationship with God stronger by the way that he does his work. Other people may have given him his tasks, but the Christian considers all of his work to be for God. So, he works carefully and honestly, because God, his master, has commanded him to work in that way.

The Christian knows that God appreciates his work. God will reward him, in his spirit, with a reward that nothing on earth can destroy (Matthew 6:19-21). So the Christian can do even difficult tasks joyfully, because his joy comes from God, even in difficult circumstances (Habakkuk 3:17-18).

Next part: God will reward all his loyal people (Colossians 3:24)

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© 2019, Keith Simons.