Everyone has a boss. How is he/she? Do you answer to just one person or to a committee? Or are you your own boss? If so, what kind of boss are you?
Just over eleven years ago, The Office ended a nine year run on NBC. Humorous, irreverent, and often inappropriate, the appeal of the series was the point that it made: for many people today, work is absurd. It requires them to spend hours every day in a place they don’t want to be, with people they don’t really like, doing a job they really don’t enjoy, for a paycheck that is never really enough. No one in The Office really wanted to be there, but they kept showing up, day after day. Absurd.
There was a reason that office at fictional Dunder Mifflin was so dysfunctional and the employees so de-motivated. There was a reason for the inter-office squabbling, the jockeying for position and titles, and the awkward and humiliating moments. The reason, for the first seven seasons, was Michael Scott, the boss. Actor Steve Carell played the part. He was awful, incompetent, indecisive, made promises he couldn’t keep and purchased for himself a mug that said, “World’s Best Boss.”
We all have boss stories we could tell. But only one Boss matters. No matter what you do, no matter where you do it, no matter who you do it for or with, ultimately, you work for God. When you understand that, your daily work becomes an act of worship. Your daily work, however regarded by the world, is a fragrant offering to God above.
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” (Colossians 3:23 NIV) With all your heart? Isn’t that the way we’re supposed to love God—with all our heart, and soul and mind and strength? Isn’t that the language of worship? Are we supposed to serve our bosses and customers with the same intensity and devotion with which we serve God? Yes, because God is the one we’re ultimately working for. He’s the Boss – the greatest, most gracious and generous Boss imaginable. No matter what we do, no matter where we do it, no matter whom we do it for or with, ultimately, we work for God.
Something worth remembering as we head back to work and school – “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and to drink and to find joy in his work. This too…is from God’s hand. For who can eat or enjoy himself apart from him?” (Ecclesiastes 2:24,25 EHV)
In Christ Jesus,
Pastor Stephen Luchterhand
Just over eleven years ago, The Office ended a nine year run on NBC. Humorous, irreverent, and often inappropriate, the appeal of the series was the point that it made: for many people today, work is absurd. It requires them to spend hours every day in a place they don’t want to be, with people they don’t really like, doing a job they really don’t enjoy, for a paycheck that is never really enough. No one in The Office really wanted to be there, but they kept showing up, day after day. Absurd.
There was a reason that office at fictional Dunder Mifflin was so dysfunctional and the employees so de-motivated. There was a reason for the inter-office squabbling, the jockeying for position and titles, and the awkward and humiliating moments. The reason, for the first seven seasons, was Michael Scott, the boss. Actor Steve Carell played the part. He was awful, incompetent, indecisive, made promises he couldn’t keep and purchased for himself a mug that said, “World’s Best Boss.”
We all have boss stories we could tell. But only one Boss matters. No matter what you do, no matter where you do it, no matter who you do it for or with, ultimately, you work for God. When you understand that, your daily work becomes an act of worship. Your daily work, however regarded by the world, is a fragrant offering to God above.
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” (Colossians 3:23 NIV) With all your heart? Isn’t that the way we’re supposed to love God—with all our heart, and soul and mind and strength? Isn’t that the language of worship? Are we supposed to serve our bosses and customers with the same intensity and devotion with which we serve God? Yes, because God is the one we’re ultimately working for. He’s the Boss – the greatest, most gracious and generous Boss imaginable. No matter what we do, no matter where we do it, no matter whom we do it for or with, ultimately, we work for God.
Something worth remembering as we head back to work and school – “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and to drink and to find joy in his work. This too…is from God’s hand. For who can eat or enjoy himself apart from him?” (Ecclesiastes 2:24,25 EHV)
In Christ Jesus,
Pastor Stephen Luchterhand
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