Continuing from Jerry Sittser’s book ‘the Will of God as a Way of Life,’ Making Life an Art :
A.W. Tozer, a twentieth-century pastor, preacher, and spiritual writer, supports this view of work. He wrote that if one’s motive is right, what a person does with his or her work can take on almost sacramental significance.
Let every man abide in the calling wherein he is called and his work will be
as sacred as the work of the ministry. It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is
sacred or secular, it is why he does it. The motive is everything. Let a man sanctify the Lord God in his heart
and he can hereafter do no common act. All he does is good and acceptable to God through
Jesus Christ. For such a man, living itself will be sacramental and the whole world a sanctuary.9
Martin E. Marty, the dean of American religious historians and my advisor in graduate school, has taught me more than anyone I know about how to take delight in living out one’s calling. He has taught at the University of Chicago Divinity School for nearly forty years, sat on dozens of boards and committees, traveled around the world to speak, and written over fifty books. Yet he treats every assignment, project, book, or article as if it were his first. He relishes every moment he gets to work. God made us for work, and he calls us to work six days out of seven. He also created us with the capacity to enjoy our work if we give ourselves to what we are doing and not simply work for what we can get, whether income, recognition, status, or power.
Ordinary life gives us many opportunities to enjoy kairos moments. We must develop the eye of an artist to see and seize them. In pursuing our calling, we can take pleasure in everything we do because work itself has dignity. When spending time with colleagues or friends, we can lose ourselves in good conversation. When doing dishes we can reflect upon the good things God provides. When tucking our children into bed, we can say a prayer over them, thanking God for the gifts they are to us. When waking up in the morning, we can rejoice that we have been given another day of life. We can train our spiritual senses, in other words, to embrace the “Holy Now” and to enjoy the wonder of the present moment.
But as we all know, the present moment involves more than delighting in the simple pleasures of life. Most of our time is spent working, at home or on the job. Careers in particular require a great deal of time and energy, probably more than any other activity we do. It would seem wise, therefore, to choose a career wisely. Knowing how important our work is, how can we choose that career that reflects the will of God for our lives? ~Jerry Sittser the Will of God as a Way of Life (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 2000,2004) p 153-54
