My first few jobs through and after college were work. And they were just that; they were jobs that no one may have found glamorous, and I certainly did not see them as anything but a means to a paycheck and a stepping stone to something more worthy of my time and skills.

What was the most corrupting part of it, I think, was my longing to do something else. When I was in college I made the decision to pursue vocational ministry, that is, go to seminary, get ordained, and go plant a church somewhere out of the upstate of South Carolina. Several semesters into grad school I took a year off to work as an intern at Grace Church, further confirming a heartbeat for service to God’s children through the ministry of the church. Following the internship I returned to a job I had when I was in college, finding myself the most discontent I had ever been in the workplace— not even because of what I was doing but because of what I wasn’t. It turns out you can idolize even the best things, and that’s exactly what I was doing with work.

Tim Keller says that to see work as “mainly a means of self-fulfillment and self-realization slowly crushes a person,” and that’s what was happening to me.

That fall, Grace Church introduced a Men’s Roundtable study called A Man and His Work. It was through this study and through a key conversation with a pastor at Grace Church that led me to genuine life-change and repentance. The biggest phrase that stuck out to me in that whole study was,

“God cares more about HOW you work than WHERE you work.”

I may not have understood why God had me laboring in the place I was, but I knew He was sovereign, and that it wasn’t all about me.

“It turns out you can idolize even the best things, and that’s exactly what I was doing with work.”

So I worked hard in that place for another year and a half, pushing to grow in the structure that company had to offer and seeking to serve our clients and coworkers well. I did, however, continue to pray that, in His good timing, God would lead me to a position where I would have a more relational job role.

In December of 2013, I took a new job in a field I could not have known less about. I survived a wild interview process and dove in headfirst. The draw for me was the promise of working with two guys whom I knew well and had a lot of respect for. I saw them succeeding in serving people at a high level, and this was attractive to me. Getting started was really hard. It took a lot of time, training, tears, second thoughts, etc. Nearly three years later, I am able to sit here and write this story of God’s provision and mercy to me.

The best part, though, is that the story is still being written.

Jeremiah 29:7 asks the people of Israel to seek the welfare of the city God has placed them in, and though that they would find their own welfare. This means that God’s plan for His creation is for work to be done well, and by that we will see the outpouring of His grace on us. Work is meant to be difficult in some ways and in some seasons, but it is primarily meant to be a blessing and a vehicle for us to mimic our Maker. Through my job, I am able to be a part of an organization with a bigger vision than simply making money and doing our jobs well. There is significant value in both of those things, but the goal is to see everyone we interact with thrive.

“Work is meant to be difficult in some ways and in some seasons, but it is primarily meant to be a blessing and a vehicle for us to mimic our Maker.”

On top of all of this, the best thing to remember is that our work is not our identity. For the believer, Jesus has done all the work necessary and said “it is finished.” Through the resurrection of the Son we have freedom to serve our King in whatever capacity He has gifted us, knowing that the work we do for Him is pleasing in His sight. We serve a higher master and a higher calling. That’s worth far more than any paycheck.