The Hard Work of Becoming Spiritually, Emotionally and Physically Healthy

Our ability to transform our lives can only be maintained through
The Spirituality of Hard Work

There are many benefits of hard work in the Bible. Our capacity to grow can only be supported if we
fathom the deeply spiritual nature of hard work.

Martin Luther King, Jr., The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life (1967)
What I’m saying to you this morning, my friends, even if it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, go on
out and sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures; sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven
composed music; sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry; (Go ahead) sweep streets so well that
all the host of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, "Here lived a great street sweeper who
swept his job well."
If you can’t be a pine on the top of a hill
Be a scrub in the valley—but be
The best little scrub on the side of the hill,
Be a bush if you can’t be a tree.
If you can’t be a highway just be a trail
If you can’t be the sun be a star;
It isn’t by size that you win or fail—
Be the best of whatever you are.
And when you do this, when you do this, you’ve mastered the length of life. (Yes)

The scriptures teach us many things about the importance and value of hard work. Hard work is not a
popular concept today and certainly, the reputation of a hard worker has lost some of its’ gleam. We are
told that we are to work smarter not harder. Certainly, we are to work smart, but there is joy in hard
work.

Our nature of working hard is not about our title, position, or status, but instead speaks to the character of
the person we are. This is the spiritual nature of hard work.

Colossians 3:22-24
22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything you do. Try to please them all the time, not just when
they are watching you. Serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord. 23 Work willingly
at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 24 Remember that the
Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.
Even the oppressed slaves are valued for who they were, not for who they had been made to be. God
loves a hard worker.

Our understanding of this topic is critical for our Fit.Church family. The reason is that there are times
when because we are always on social media or the internet that we feel like we are constantly living life
in third gear. But we must not mistake activity for productivity. Growing weary from entertainment is a
much, much different thing from the weariness of hard work. We often confuse the two.

We can actually be exhausted day to day and be going nowhere. We need to define hard work and
understand the benefits of hard. When we are focused on God it is much easier to do so.

Triple D: Are you exhausted? And if so is it for the right reasons? Explore your business and consider
how much of it is productive work or is the majority of it more of activity that brings about nothing of
value.