Your Work Matters

There might be a thousand reasons to be depressed and cynical, but we don't have time to play that game.

Photo by Jess Bailey on Unsplash

The glitter and lights have all been put away, the bathroom scales are surely lying, and the news continues to bring bad-tidings. Welcome to 2025.

It’s never ceases to amaze me how quickly the warmth and hope of Christmas can evaporate, and the cold reality of business-as-usual can kick back in.

That business-as-usual feeling is understandable, but we mustn’t get overtaken by it. We must not become cynical. If we do we won’t fulfil our potential because cynicism has no creative spark to it. And this world needs our creative spark; needs everything God has put in us to be and do.

There might be a thousand reasons to be depressed and cynical, but we don’t have time to play that game. Our calling - mine and yours - is to bring gospel change to this world. There is much to be done, and so we best get busy doing it. This year I choose to push into my work with fresh faith. Will you do the same?

Photo by Dolo Iglesias on Unsplash

Your work matters. It matters simply because you do it, and because you do it for the glory of God.

There is no amount, target, size, feedback, or measure of success that will determine whether your work matters. It matters because it does. Maybe no one will tell you it matters, but I’m telling you. It matters because you matter - and God put something in your heart and in your hand to do.

The value of your work cannot be found in a pie-chart or on a graph. God sees you doing it - that’s enough.

This morning in my daily reading, I was struck by the actions of Rebekah as she drew water for Abraham’s servant and his camels. (Genesis 24). Here is a young woman whose life is about to take a dramatic turn. She is being written into God’s story, although she doesn’t know it. For her this is just an ordinary day, one in which a stranger has shown up tired and thirsty, asking her for help. From her perspective she is just doing her work, showing compassion for a stranger and his camels. She shows up, rolls her sleeves up, and puts in the reps:

She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came back up. The servant ran to meet her and said, “Please, can I have a sip of water from your jug?”

She said, “Certainly, drink!” And she held the jug so that he could drink. When he had satisfied his thirst she said, “I’ll get water for your camels, too, until they’ve drunk their fill.” She promptly emptied her jug into the trough and ran back to the well to fill it, and she kept at it until she had watered all the camels. (Genesis 24:17-21 MSG)

She kept at it. God is at work behind the scenes, putting the story together. Rebekah is keeping at it, one action at a time. She’s not trying to become a Matriarch, she’s simply doing what she can to satisfy someone’s thirst. This is the key to our work, by the way. If we trust that God is working behind the scenes, we can focus not on trying to be someone, but on simply offering living water to a thirsty world.

Photo by Amritanshu Sikdar on Unsplash

Your work in this world is the thing that gets you out of bed, making a difference. You may or may not make a living from it. That’s okay, and that’s not the point. Your work matters because you are trying to make people’s lives better for God’s glory. You are shining the light. You are offering living water. You are scattering gospel seed. This is true because of the attitude you bring to your work, whether you are digging holes, welding steel, stacking shelves, dressing wounds, driving vehicles, writing words, feeding mouths, teaching kids, designing products, producing films, sweeping streets, preaching, praying, or helping.

There is always a battle, of course. It’s what Steven Pressfield called ‘the resistance’. There will always be a voice that tells you your work doesn’t matter, that no one cares, that you might as well quit.

That voice is the Liar.

Don’t give those lies any of your emotional energy in 2025. Stay creative. Think about how you can contribute to the flourishing of those around you. Be a light shining in the darkness. Be a voice of hope. Be the hands and feet of Jesus. Do your work with confidence. Do it because you love God. Do it because you love people.

The Liar will question your motives - who do you think you are trying to do something meaningful?! Ignore that nonsense. It’s the same lie told to millions of people all around the world. But you’ll be okay because you’re not going to believe it. You’re going to listen to the Truth, right?

Do your work with joy and confidence this year. Play your part and leave the results in God’s more than capable hands. Punch the January blues on the nose.

Most of the above is a pep talk to myself. I hope it encourages you.

Roll up your sleeves.

Onward,

Steve x