By Every Word: Joy in All Our Labors
How Christ dignifies the daily, the hidden, and the difficult.
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”
— Colossians 3:23
We live in an age obsessed with output: productivity, profit, prestige. But Scripture speaks of a different kind of work: one not measured by the market, but offered to the Lord.
In Colossians 3:23, Paul doesn’t say whatever your job description includes. He says whatever you do. For the Christian, all labor—paid or unpaid, recognized or unseen—is holy when done unto Christ.
The world ranks tasks by status. But the Kingdom ranks by faithfulness.
The Reformers knew this well. Luther could speak of a mother changing diapers with the same dignity as a priest offering the Eucharist. Calvin taught that every man was to serve in his particular way of life—that God Himself had called him there.
The Protestant work ethic, rightly understood, isn’t about chasing wealth. It’s about working willingly and faithfully because we know whose we are, not just what we do.
The Heidelberg Catechism shows us in Q&A 124 that we don’t need a clerical collar or a church title to live a sacred life. Every honest calling, every homebound task, every thankless chore can become a form of worship when we do it with joy and unto God.
That joy isn’t always loud or easy. Sometimes it looks like quiet faithfulness when no one sees but God.
“The Lord bids each one of us in all life’s actions to look to His calling, that He may not be wandering in uncertainty. He has assigned duties to every man in his particular way of life.”
— Calvin, Institutes III.x.6
But our age has twisted even this into a cult of productivity, where labor without pay is dismissed as laziness, and value is tied to visibility. We no longer see calling as something received from God, but as something performed for others—something to curate, brand, monetize.
We mistake rest for weakness. We shame those who step back. We forget that Sabbath is a commandment, too.
“Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.”
— Exodus 20:9–10
The same God who calls us to diligence also commands us to rest. Not because He needs it, but because we do. The rhythm of work and rest isn’t a human invention but a divine pattern.
Sabbath is God’s answer to our striving. It reminds us that we are not machines. We are sons and daughters, made to receive, not just produce.
Without Sabbath, work becomes idolatry. But without work, Sabbath becomes empty.
And still, we press on—grinding beneath a false banner.
In our distortion of Protestant work ethic, we’ve often exalted toil without rest, hustle without holiness. We’ve traded laboring for the Lord for striving after Mammon, treating every hour as a rung on the ladder of self-worth, every task as a means to status or survival.
What once was worship has become weariness, measured in burnout rather than faithfulness. Mere content for the eyes of others—as well as our own. Stripped of joy and severed from grace, our vocation forgets the One it was meant to glorify.
And so we must recover the truth: our labor isn’t holy because it pays. It’s holy because it’s done in love—before the face of God.
Reflections
In my flesh, I’ve resented the smallness of my tasks. I’ve looked for impact, applause, or at least a paycheck to justify my effort. But God isn’t impressed by output. He’s pleased by obedience.
And more than that—He is present in it.
He’s with the janitor scrubbing floors. With the grandmother folding laundry. With the father reading stories. With the student completing homework. With the pastor writing sermons. With the tired woman praying between errands.
He is with us. And He is for us. Not because our work is mighty, but because Christ has made it meaningful.
We don’t labor for approval. We labor from adoption.
We don’t work to earn favor. We work because we’ve already received it.
Not for man. Not for Mammon. But coram Deo. Always.
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
— 1 Corinthians 10:31
Prayer
Lord, You are the giver of every good task. Let me labor with joy in what You’ve given, and not envy what You’ve withheld. Teach me to see every calling—however small—as a place to serve You. And when You call me to rest, let me obey with just as much faith. Amen.
Further Reading — Heidelberg Catechism Q&A
Question 124. Which is the third petition?
Answer. [Mat. 6:10] “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”; that is, grant that we and all men may renounce [Mat. 16:24; Tit. 2:12] our own will, and without murmuring [Luke 22:42] obey thy will, which is only good; that so every one may attend to, and [1 Cor. 7:24; Eph. 4:1] perform the duties of his station and calling, as willingly and faithfully as the [Psa. 103:20] angels do in heaven.
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