Worshipping in the everyday workplace

When we think of work, we often think of the dread of waking up on Monday morning, the commute to the office or worksite, or maybe the familiar desk at home where we make our day’s wages. Work is often seen as the evil necessity of life in which we do what we can to make ends meet. And if we’re lucky and blessed, we may have enough to share with those around us. But is this the way it should be?

Work is usually placed within the secular realm of our spiritualized life. This is the part of our life that we separate from the other part that’s clouded with talk about worship, discipleship and faith. But when you think about it, work takes up about a third to a half of the time allotted to us in a week. It’s a vast amount of time that we are spending in the work place. How then can we truly be a disciple of Christ in our everyday life without bringing the act of discipleship and worship into the work place?

In reading Micah 6:6-8, I have come to reflect upon the meaning of worship. Worship is an act of living the everyday life that comes from within. It’s not about what we bring to the table of offering but about where our heart is. And to sum it up nicely, the demand on our heart is that of doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with our God.

And in reflecting about that in the work place, I have come to ask myself three questions.

• Am I acting justly and being a champion of justice as I work throughout the day?


• Am I loving kindness and mercy as Christ has shown me in the interactions I have with others?


• Am I walking humbly in a God-fearing way through the choices I make?

If we allow the act of doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with God to be the foundational outpouring of our heart into the thoughts, actions, decisions and motives of everything we do at work, then we are learning to bring worship into the workplace. Work now becomes not a place to earn a living but a place in which your act of worship will be seen and felt by those around you. In essence it is also a place where  discipleship happens.

So the question that I leave with you today is this. Will you allow your work to be an arena and an act of worship in your everyday life?