Worship and Work

This week in Bible class, I was teaching the students about the importance of work and rules and how they relate to worship. While they are only 6, it is an important concept to learn at a young age and to start practicing doing their best in everything, while the consequences are still small for not doing their best. Every time one of them would hand me their paper, I would ask them, "Is this the best you can do? Is there something you can do to make this paper better?" At the beginning of the week, almost every paper set on my desk was taken back to a student's desk grudgingly to redo something or to finish the activity. As the initial questions started not getting work redone, I started asking, "Do you think this is good enough for God? Would you give this paper to God and tell Him it was your best work?" Papers started returning to desks, but it happened less and less often. They have begun to turn in their best the first time, 

All of this got me to thinking, do we as adults and people claiming to be Christians always do all our work as if we are going to give it to God? Do I write my lesson plans to have God review? Do I love my students as if God is sitting right there watching everything I do? I think for most of us, the answer is a resounding no. Did I do my dishes to the glory of God? It sounds silly sometimes, but that is what the Bible says to do. To do all of our work to the glory of God. This is how work becomes worship. Otherwise, it is just day-to-day boring old hum-drum. Yes, it may still be boring and tedious, and it may take some extra time to do things our best the first time, but then it is also a joy when it is finished and you see the work that is completed and you know, for sure, that it is the best you could possibly have done. 

One of my students brought me their handwriting page at the end of this week and waiting at my desk for me to mark the letters and parts of the sentence that needed changed. I asked them the usual questions, and he answered, "yes" to all of them, so I checked the work. When I told him, "Good job! It looks great!" and set the paper in my pile of work to put in their take-home folders, his face lit up. He had never had me accept his work the first time. He said, "I'm going to do my best every time the first time! It is so much easier!" My little six-year-old learned a valuable life lesson this week, and, as his teacher, it was a joy to watch.