accumulation of material possessions." perspectives transforms our jobs and our lives.
Minimalism lowers the amount of money we require to maintain a chosen standard of living, removing the need to earn ever-increasing sums. We begin to see that the motivation for our work doesn’ t have to be the numbers on our paychecks. We can direct our passions at work and in our careers toward something more lasting and more fulfilling. Our entire motivation for this important area of life can change. And when it does, the world, God’ s kingdom, our families, and our own selves will begin to change for the better.
Did you know that in the course of a lifetime we each spend about ninety thousand hours at work? That’ s one-third of our lives on this earth! So, it’ s important that we get this part of our lives right.
I believe that most of us Christians understand that honoring God ought to be our objective for our work, same as for every other part of life( 1 Corinthians 10:31, NIV). It’ s just that in our careers we tend to get caught up in exactly the same frantic moneymaking endeavors that everyone else does. We need something to break us out of this cycle, because God invites us to something better.
Minimalism makes it easier to focus on God’ s glory rather than our paychecks as the chief goal of our work. And let me assure you, there’ s something truly beautiful in how that switch of
Choose Your Boss
We should already know better than to get caught up in the“ I’ m in it for the paycheck " attitude, because two thousand years ago the apostle Paul gave us a better way of thinking about work. He said it this way:“ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters "( Colossians 3:23 NIV).
“ Minimalism makes it easier to focus on God’ s glory rather than our paychecks as the chief goal of our work.”
If you’ re like me, you’ d like to do your work as unto the Lord. But that can seem almost impossible if we’ re looking at work as the means through which we make the money to buy all the stuff we want and live the comfortable lives the world offers us. As we see the value of a minimalist lifestyle, however, our thoughts and motivation for work begin to change. For one thing, minimalism significantly alters how much money we need to live. Work doesn’ t have to be about making more if it is already providing enough. Our time, talents, expertise, and skills in our work can be used for God’ s glory rather than trying to build our own kingdoms and castles.
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