How To Glorify God When Your Work Seems Meaningless 

Greg Phelan, an elder at CBC Williamstwon, discusses that there are 3 things that can reassure anyone who feels like their work is not significant. A person should “Look Big”, which signifies contentment with the work that God has given us to do, no matter how big or small.  

“Think Small” means that the societal or cultural values of your work are vastly different than what God considers significant, and “Remember the Promise.” This means that our scars and disappointments will be restored into good things when we are resurrected after the making of new Heaven and new earth.  

How Do I Glorify God Even When My Work Seems Meaningless? 
Greg thinks that it is a great thing to respond to God’s love, which is also mentioned in Romans 12, “Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship.” 

Wanting to do something valuable and significant is a great mission, but there is also a great danger associated with it. Our culture and hearts constantly ask us to justify ourselves, so our easy response can transform into something more dangerous. There are three biblical principles, according to Greg, that help to guard our hearts and enable us to do something that God considers significant.   

Look Big 
Any kind of work we do, whether it is in the office, at home, or at the church, it is only significant in the sense that it is an extension of what God is doing. Psalm 127 1 states, “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat– for he grants sleep to those he loves.” 

Whatever we do is significant if it is part of what God is doing. Nehemiah chapter 3 states about people who were making just a wall. They might have thought that their work was insignificant, but they were a part of God’s enormous plan to bring people back in and rebuild Jerusalem. 

We should always check in our hearts whether our work is following what Jesus is doing. When a person desires to do something significant, his work can easily turn him into thinking that it is his own way of doing that work and that it is his plan and not God’s. 

If God comes to you and says, “here is your assignment,” you should not think that the work is significant or not. You should be content with the significance of doing something God has asked you to do.  

Think Small 
God’s value of significance is quite different from ours. It’s different from our culture and society and the point of view it holds. For example, as described in Mark 12:41, as Jesus watches people putting their money into the temple treasury, he noticed that the rich people were putting in large offerings and making lengthy prayers just for a show.

Then came a poor widow, and she placed two small copper coins in the treasury. Jesus said that the widow did the most significant amount of work, and even though her contribution didn’t affect the budget, she gave the most, according to Jesus. 

God values these small things that have the highest significance, in his opinion. Even if you feel like you’re not doing something significant according to the values of this world, you might be wrong, and your work must be highly significant as far as God is concerned.  

Remember The Promise 
God has promised us that our labor is not in vain. He says in Isaiah 65:17, “I am making a new earth and new heavens. The events of the past will be completely forgotten.” At that time, our labor will not be in vain. 

Corinthians 15, The Resurrection of Christ tells us that resurrection happens and is going to happen again, and your labor is not in vain. Paul says that even now, no matter how fruitless our work feels and no matter how insignificant we think about the things that we are doing. God is working to bring all things together for the good of those who believe in him and love him. 

This is because Jesus conquered death, his body was renewed, and his scars became a marker of his grace and glory. Our scars and disappointments and the insignificance we feel while following God and obeying him, and glorifying Him can be reassured by thinking that God will bring good to all of these things when he fully restores Heaven and Earth. Our labors will not be in vain.  

We don’t see resurrection until we die, which doesn’t allow us to see whether what we are working on will be significant in the afterlife or not. Trust God to plan out good things for your small acts of faithfulness and do the things that he asks us to do.