Singaporeans are unhappy at work.

Surveys in recent years have found that many Singaporeans are exhausted at work and dissatisfied with their jobs, making us the unhappiest workers in the world.

Christians are undoubtedly among these tired workers. Even though work was given to us as a good gift from a God who Himself works (Genesis 1-2), it has become exceedingly tedious and difficult since the fall, and none are spared.

Not only has sin made work challenging and mundane, it has also led us to use work as the primary measure of our worth – a lie that heaps further weight on our already weary shoulders.

Against this sobering backdrop, is it still possible for Christians to thrive in the workplace?

Where is God in my work?

At the recent Intentional Disciplemaking Church (IDMC) Conference held on August 30 and 31, Pastor Chua Chung Kai, associate pastor of Covenant Evangelical Free Church, shared some encouraging truths to help restore purpose and meaning to our work, amid challenges and mundanity.

1. God is at work through your work

Whether you are a garbage truck driver or a banker, a pastor or an accountant, your work is a way through which God is working in His creation. This is because God has designed all legitimate work to be a form of service.

In Psalm 145:15-16, the psalmist praises God for being the ultimate Provider: “The eyes of all look to you and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hands and satisfy the desires of every living thing.”

How does God satisfy the desire of every living thing? Through the work of His people, said Ps Chung Kai.

For example, if someone had a burger for lunch, it would have been thanks to the efforts of the farmer who grew and harvested the wheat, the truck driver who transported the wheat to a distribution centre, the baker who baked the bread and the business owner who made and sold the burger.

Whether you are a pastor or an accountant, your work is a way through which God is working in His creation, said Ps Chung Kai. Photo by Lim Keng San.

“God uses (human) agency to bring about His will to pass. God could have made the whole world a garden by Himself, but He chose to use human beings – you and I – to garden His garden,” said Ps Chung Kai.

Quoting Martin Luther, he added: “God milks cows through the vocation of milk maids.”

2. God is at work through all kinds of work

With this in mind, there is no dichotomy between mental and menial work, or spiritual and secular work, stressed Ps Chung Kai, noting that Jesus was a carpenter for most of his life.

“God has created all work as service. If we frame it in that direction, then all work becomes spiritual when God is present,” he said.

“You can be a Grab car driver and a very spiritual one. Not that you pray all the time … but you can be in a sense acknowledging the presence of God, asking God for help as you drive, asking God to help you know how to minister to various (people).

“If you are conscious of the presence of Jesus in your life, I want to tell you, you are a spiritual Grab car driver, and that becomes to you your worship to Jesus.”

Noting that about 90% of the audience are in jobs outside of the church, he added: “Wherever you are, God has placed you there for a purpose.”

Understand that when the presence of God is with you as you work, that is worship, said the speaker. Photo by Andrew Ng.

3. God is at work through you in the workplace

It is tough in the marketplace, acknowledged Ps Chung Kai, who is also a trained medical doctor.

“The lines are much more grey and not everyone holds to certain value systems. Your integrity is challenged. You have KPIs to meet. It’s just tough … but that’s the very reason why God has placed you there,” he said.

He cited the biblical example of Queen Esther, who was sold to a pagan king after winning a beauty contest. “What a terrible way to think about women. But God placed her there for such a time as this,” he said.

As a result of Queen Esther’s presence in the king’s court, she was able to intervene in a plan to kill her people. “That was her role – to save generations from genocide,” said Ps Chung Kai, adding that not all of us may be called to such big causes.

Nevertheless, he stressed: “Wherever God has placed you, He has a reason. He has a purpose.

“You may not know it on this side of the world, but one day when you stand before Him, He’ll say, ‘Well done. Because you held your position, you didn’t give up, you were a light for Me in the midst of darkness.'”

Elaborating on how we can be salt and light for Christ in the marketplace, Ps Chung Kai quoted Timothy Keller from his book Every Good Endeavour: “So when we say that Christians work from a gospel worldview, it does not mean that they are constantly speaking about Christian teaching at their work.

Ps Chung Kai stressed: “Wherever God has placed you, He has a reason. He has a purpose. You may not know it on this side of the world.” Photo by Andrew Ng.

“Instead, think of the gospel as a set of glasses through which you ‘look’ at everything else in the world. Christian artists, when they do this faithfully, will not be completely beholden either to profit or to naked self-expression; and they will tell the widest variety of stories.”

Timothy Keller continued: “Christians in business will see profit as only one of several bottom lines; and they will work passionately for any kind of enterprise that serves the common good.

“The Christian writer can constantly be showing the destructiveness of making something besides God into the central thing, even without mentioning God directly.”

Ps Chung Kai concluded: “Work is the way which we express worship to Jesus. God has put you as a teacher, as a civil servant, as a regular in the army, as a head of department – that’s where you express the presence of the living God through your life under tremendous pressure.

“But understand that this is where God not just builds you, but that is where God will use you for His glory. That’s your worship unto Him.”

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