Working Wholeheartedly

Why do we do what we do? And how are we to do it? These questions arose while I was painting lines on FCA’s nine summer camp football fields. My initial answers were, I’m doing this because it has to be done—and as quickly as possible. When finished, I was disappointed in both my attitude and the poor quality of my work. My wife suggested I line the fields as if God were going to play on them. So, three days later I set off to line the fields for God. However, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t paint a perfectly straight line. I grew angrier with each mistake while practically screaming that I was doing this for God. After seven fields of beating myself up, God intervened and I realized I had missed the point.

When Paul said, “do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord” (Colossians 3:23), he wasn’t saying, “be perfect and then God will love you.” He was telling us to sacrifice everything for the task at hand, do our best, and realize that the God who loves us is the one who will judge our work. This brings a new outlook. We should not beat ourselves up fearing God’s wrath for every mistake. After realizing this truth, lining the fields became more heartfelt worship than a frustrating chore. Was every line perfect? Of course not, but I finally grasped what it meant to work for the Lord with my whole heart.