There are few things more difficult than giving our best labors daily in an environment where we feel unappreciated. You know the feeling, and it’s not a good one. No matter how good our work environment might be, from time to time we have all felt the sting of our contributions taken for granted and our mistakes magnified.

The sad reality is that this condition is almost inevitable in this broken world. So how do we sustain joyful work in such a situation?

For Unappreciated Workers

I am no stranger to the discouragement of feeling unappreciated, but over the years, I have found great help from the apostle Paul’s exhortation in Colossians 3:22–24.

Bondservants, obey in everything those w…

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I love creative work, and in my world that translates into strategic planning, designing products, and kickstarting new and exciting initiatives. I find work energizing and intellectually stimulating.

The monotonous work … not so much.

Unfortunately for me, not all the work I do daily is creative. In fact most of our work is of the repetitive and monotonous type — interspersed with occasional opportunities for creativity. This is true of much of our work that must get done every day, both in the office and at home.

Glorifying God in the Repetitious

The chores around the house get done only to become undone in a matter of days. And shoveling snow and mowing the lawn could be fun, if y…

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Anyone working in a “secular” job will be tempted to think of work as less significant or less God honoring than that of, say, a pastor. I have struggled here, and over the years I have met many others who struggle with a sense of purpose in their daily work — wondering if they need instead to give themselves to pastoral work or Christian ministry in order to truly “do God’s will.”

Done rightly and in the fear of God, ministry is an excellent God-honoring vocation, but ministry is not the only work that can be God-honoring. So often businessmen like me think this way because we fail to really take hold of the doctrine of vocation. To put it simply, vocation is the specific work that God ha…

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