Uniting Work and Prayer
"I live in two worlds!" confessed one young man in our group, describing the place of church and work in his life. "I live in a constant pull between the calling of the secular and the spiritual," he explained. "What's the connection between what I do in church on Sunday morning and what I do in my workplace?"
Listen to how Paul addresses this question -- by describing the spiritual unity of our lives: "Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God" (Col 3:17). Paul doesn't draw lines that divide secular and spiritual, the "real" world and worship. All of it is part of our discipleship.
If we do as Paul suggests, we can transform our daily lives. If we bring everything we do and offer it to God, we can unite work and prayer. By offering our work continually to God, we can turn our work into prayer and find ourselves praying unceasingly. We can do "everything" -- the most pleasing and the most onerous tasks alike -- as a labor of love by which we live and grow in the spirit of Christ.
The late Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, "The prayer of the Christian reaches beyond its set time and extends into the heart of [one's] work. It includes the whole day, and in doing so, it does not hinder the work; it promotes it, affirms it, and lends it meaning and joy. Thus every word, every work, every labor of the Christian becomes a prayer" [Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community, New York: Harper and Row, 1954. p. 71.].
Today and every day, we can turn our work into prayer. It can transform our life in ways we haven't yet imagined.
Stephen D. Bryant
Editor and Publisher
The Upper Room®
From The Upper Room daily devotional guide, May/June 2008. Copyright © 2008 The Upper Room. All Rights Reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
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