Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
(Colossians 3:23-24)

I came across these couple verses this morning as I was reading my Bible. I have read them several times before and I quote them every now and then, but they served me as a reminder this morning about something I have been letting getting away with: Attitude.


Working with kids has taught me a lot of things, but one thing that I always think about is their attitude towards things. One of the most frustrating things about my job is coming up with activities that the kids will like. There are some kids that are happy and have fun no matter what you have them do, but there are others that always have something to complain about. It is hard to please everyone, but one thing I have noticed about those that have a good attitude VS the ones that don't is that they enjoy things a lot more, they don't mind having to run or play a sports game, they have a good time and enjoy the activity.

As I have grown up and matured as a person, I have noticed how much my attitude towards things influences how well I do them. For example, if I have to write a 10 page paper about a subject I don't care about, I will probably have a terrible time and dread it to the last minute, but if I have to write an article for one of my Journalism classes (which I really enjoy since that is my major), I can do it in a hard beat.

Attitude also changes how we do things for the Lord, we can do sloppy jobs for God and good jobs for Him, but one thing I am often reminded is to do EVERYTHING as if it was for Him, not just at church or ministry, but EVERYTHING! It makes things more pleasing and fun to do, not just fun, but you always do best if you have a better attitude.

I like how Paul reminds the Colossians here about doing all things as to pleasing God and not men. Pleasing men is one of the hardest things to do as everyone has a concept or idea of things and it tends to be different depending on the person. God is pleased when we are living a life for Him, when we are walking according to His ways. At church, of course I want other people to like the way I do things, but "who am I doing things for?",  is it to get a pat in the back from my Pastor or others at church or to please God?

I would choose option #2. Our goal should be please God, not men. To serve God, not men. To do everything in God's name, not for man. This is where the world VS the church differ. The ways of the world are to get to the top, kicking anyone who gets in your way and hurting whoever crosses paths with you just to get what you want. God wants His people to be different, He wants us to do EVERYTHING for Him, care for others and always represent His name in a manner that is worthy.

Hard to do? Of course it is, because we are daily influenced by the ways of the world, but with God all things are possible. We are called to live for Him, not for man.