Key Scripture:

“What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.” Ecclesiastes 3:9-10

Devotional:

After working in the same role for seven years, I became discontent. I asked myself questions like, “Am I really doing the good that I wanted to do?” “Am I making the kind of difference in the world that I wanted to make?” “Have I actually accomplished any of my big goals?” “Will I be stuck in this role forever and never advance professionally?” The list goes on and on. You may be smarter now than I was then and have already realized my major mistake through those questions – every single one of them is centered around “I.”

It sounds reasonable to ask some of those questions but in this scripture, Solomon asks the question, “What gain has the worker from his toil?” Let me tell you the lesson I’ve learned in the years since the last paragraph: The gain is not in the work but in fulfillment of purpose, and the purpose of man is to glorify God.

Read that last sentence again.

My pride and ego had to learn the hard lesson that my life is not about me, but about God. My work is not about me, but to glorify Him. Really, everything in my life is ultimately for the purpose of bringing the God honor, the fame, the praise, the adoration that He is due. It’s a hard pill to swallow for those of us who lean toward being self-centered, and I’m at the top of that dreadful list.

It’s sin nature to want to take God’s glory and attribute it to ourselves. “Look at the good job I did.” “See how well I put this project together?” “Look how many followers I have on social media.” While few of us would ever voice these thoughts so blatantly, the motives of our hearts say them just as clearly. We use subtle cues, socially acceptable ways of drawing attention to ourselves and “humble brags” to try and manipulate others into thinking we’re both amazing and humble – what a backwards mentality!

Our work is not for ourselves, but to glorify God. He has a different role for each one of us to play on this earth and in the body of Christ. What is the work that God has assigned to you? Colossians 3:23-24 says “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” Choose today to glorify God. Stop making your life and work about yourself and instead choose to use it to make much of Jesus.

I will leave you with a reminder of the lesson God has had to teach me the hard way over the past several years: The gain is not in the work but in fulfillment of purpose, and the purpose of man is to glorify God.

Deepening questions:

• What is it that you do? Do you do that “as for The Lord and not for men?”
• Does your life glorify God? Why or why not?

Further reading: 
1 Corinthians 10: 31-33, Colossians 1:10