“Our Daily Bread”     http://odb.org/

The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie                                  

http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht   

“Homily Grits Devotional”   http://www.homilygrits.com/

 Written by Dave Boller for  “Working for Christ” @   http://work4christ.wordpress.com/

http://work4christ.wordpress.com/2013/12/26/a-new-year-resolution/

A NEW YEAR RESOLUTION!

“You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3, NIV)

How do you view your work? Do you worship God through your work, or do you simply worship your work? I am convinced work can become an idol in our lives. The most destructive and dangerous idols we worship are seldom made of wood or stone, but rather the idols that lurk within human hearts. But Scripture is clear. God will not share His glory with anyone or anything. God will not allow any rivals. Our ultimate allegiance, the greatest love of our hearts, is to be God and God alone!

One of the ways we make work an idol is to become a workaholic. This form of idolatry is rampant today and often points to a deeper issue in our lives. Work idolatry is often driven by our pursuit of the American dream, of material comforts, of financial security, or by our attempts to prop up a certain image of success about ourselves. Sometimes we can hide this type of idolatry from ourselves by believing that we are working toward loyalty and commitment within our workplace in order to receive promotions and advancement.

Workplace idolatry can also be driven by overextended living, materialistic greed, and even rebellion against God. Regardless of the form it takes, excessive devotion to work inevitably crowds out our relationship with God and sets work up as the ultimate reality in our lives. When this happens, we realize that we no longer view our work as a way to worship the Lord, but we have learned to worship our work and place the Lord somewhere beneath it in our quest for success.

In a few days we will be starting a new year. Many of us will be putting together a list of resolutions that will define our priorities as this new year begins to unfold. My prayer for each of us is to consider using our work as a way to worship our Savior and not to worship our work in a way that will destroy our relationship with Him. I pray, too, that this blog will become an avenue for those in the workplace to seek Him first in everything we do.

God bless you and enjoy the New Year, “Working for Christ!”