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Series: Christmas Vocations Part III
Devotional: 4 of 4
After [the Magi] had heard [King Herod], they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. (Matthew 2:9-10)
Today concludes our series exploring the vocations of some of the characters in the Christmas narrative and what they can teach us about our own work today. Today, we end with the famed Star of Bethlehem.
Now, I know it’s a stretch to say that a star has a “vocation,” but hear me out. Because this star plays a huge part in the Christmas narrative, leading the Magi to find and worship Christ the King.
But Scripture makes clear that it’s not just this star that does the work of glorifying God. Psalm 19:1-3 says that all “the heavens declare the glory of God…day after day they pour forth speech,” even though “they use no words.”
Believer, if inanimate stars can glorify God and give testimony to his awesomeness, you better believe that you—God’s image bearer—can do the same through your work.
We see evidence that this is true all throughout Scripture. Take Nehemiah as an example. After rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem in an astonishingly fast 52 days, Nehemiah’s enemies were forced to give God credit and glory because they “realized that this work had been done with the help of God” (Nehemiah 6:16).
Passages like this one point to an important truth: You don’t have to be evangelizing with your words to glorify God. You can also glorify him by evangelizing with your work. In what you do—the products of your work—and how you do it—the processes by which you work—you can create cravings in the lost for things that are “true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy” (Philippians 4:8).
And the creation of those cravings is good in and of itself. Why? Because if the craving you’re creating through your work can only be satisfied in full in Christ, you are setting the lost down a path that dead ends at a single true Source.
You and I are called to reflect Christ, “the bright and morning star” in everything we do, including our work. So as we look towards 2025, let me leave you with 5 questions to ponder and journal through to that end:
- What can you point to that was most “true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy” about your work in 2024? And how can you do more of that in 2025?
- Where is the Holy Spirit convicting you that your work is not “true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy”? What’s one action you can take to rectify that and better reflect Christ next year?
- If your co-workers were asked to point to evidence that you are a follower of Christ, what would they point to?
- Which of your co-workers do you feel the Lord leading you to share the gospel with explicitly in 2025?
- Imagine Jesus is sitting across from you right now. What would he say about your work in 2024? And what feedback would he give you as you head back to the office in 2025?
The Word Before Work