“Discovering Our Divine Labor and True Success”

Labor is the process through which I reveal my internal reality to the external world. My labor reflects and reveals my character, disciplines, views of excellence, commitment to service, and my active grasp of my God-ordained gifts and passions. I have maintained for decades that “God pays for what He orders.” This means there are divine reservoirs of energy and creativity waiting to be released into my labor through the gifts and life passions stirring in my redeemed heart. As I see and embrace what my Creator has put within me, my ministry and my worship fuse into what I now call my work or my labor.

In our search for our assigned form of labor, there are a set of clues to follow. What are the patterns of our passions that were alive in us even before we may have known God? Frequently, we engaged in parts of our calling, distorted as they may have been, even when we were in the world, so to speak. Ask the Holy Spirit and ask those you know and trust: “What skills or passions do you see in me that bring me to life when you see me exercising them?” “How do you see me adding value to people and bringing life out of them with my words or actions?” These kinds of questions will lead us to seeing things that will appear so obvious, we will marvel that we did not see them sooner.

Do you love to teach, serve, or create with your hands? What hobbies have always given you joy or a special sense of excitement? What kind of work would you do if the world were yours? It is never too late to find your calling and invest in it. God is committed to helping us answer these questions and find ways to help us live out the answers. When we are in our assigned labor, we can feel God’s pleasure when we work. Those of you who are already there know exactly what I am saying. Your labor “fits” you and you “fit” it.

Another way of saying this is that the goal of every believer should be to engage daily in what we might call “authorized labor.” Authorized labor was the only kind of labor that Jesus would engage. Authorized labor is the work God has ordained for us to do from the heavenly realm, bringing it to the earthly realm. Entering God’s assigned labor helps us learn how to “enter His rest,” to cite the phrase used in Hebrews 4. There is peace in doing what we are called to do even though all labor here on earth has portions of it that stretch us and force discipline upon us.

Success in God is not about money, fame, fortune, or accolades from crowds. Success is about seeking first the Kingdom of God and loving Him and our neighbor as ourselves. Success is finding your gifts and assigned labor (ministry), and living them out with energy and gratitude.

Touching on the money issue, the question is not how much money we may make; the issue is having enough money to fulfill our God-ordained mission and the lifestyle He has set for us, and sowing into His Kingdom work whatever He says to do. Prosperity, or the financial lack thereof, should only be relative to our calling. I remind us of Paul’s admonition in Ephesians 4:28, “He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he will have something to share with one who has need.”

Ultimately, success is fulfilling our obedience to God and His service to others through us here on earth, and acquiring the skill sets and character He desires to carry with us into eternity. And that, my friends, is…

THE BOTTOM LINE.

This month’s Bottom Line is excerpted from Chapter 1 of Dennis Peacocke’s book, On the Destiny on Nations: Resolving Our Economic Crisis, available in the following formats: Paperback | Kindle | eBook