Bible Text: Colossians 3:23 | Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living |

Work hard and cheerfully at all you do, just as though you were working for the Lord and not merely for your masters. Colossians 3:23, Living Bible

The glory of the small task! Who said that small tasks were glorious, anyway? One of our listeners, Stuart Latimer, suggested that we dedicate a program not to the executives, the big shots who get all the glory, but to the little fellow whose name never hits the headlines, the bat boy who cleans up the shoes of the hero who made the home run, the night watchman who diligently guards the plant through the long hours, the janitor, the maid, the truck driver, the single mom.

To all of you who sometimes feel that the glamour of life has bypassed you and you are left with the menial tasks that no one else wants or does, we dedicate this commentary. You are king or queen for the moment because of the glory of the small task. A newspaper man asked Bernard Baruch on his 94th birthday, who, in his opinion, was the greatest personality of our age. That elder statesman replied astutely, “The fellow who does his job every day. The mother who has children and gets up to get the breakfast, keep them clean and send them off to school. The fellow who keeps the streets clean, for without him we could not have any sanitation. The unknown soldiers–millions of them.”

Baruch was right! The vast majority of us live lives that are not filled with the sensational and the glamorous. Most of life is filled with little tasks that seem anything but glorious, yet life would come to a grinding halt without them. Many remember that Babe Ruth, the great baseball player, ground out a record 714 home runs, but few remember the 1300 strike-outs that, likewise, set a record unapproached by any player until recent times. Most of life is not filled with the spotlight or the home runs, but it is filled with the routine and the commonplace. But there is glory in the small task. It may well be that the small task is far greater in importance than you first assumed.

Suppose that someone states blandly, “If an office boy does the very best job he can, his work is just as important as the manager’s.” Agree or disagree? Nevertheless, that statement has biblical support. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Colosse, ” Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men ” (Colossians 3:23). He was writing to those who had received Christ as Lord and Master. He is saying that when a person is rightly related to God his entire outlook is changed. What may have been insignificant and unimportant now becomes a means of glorifying God.

The glory of the small task comes into focus when you realize that the Lord has put you into a position of service. By that service, no matter how small or insignificant, Christ is glorified when you do that work as unto Him. Our lives are not lived in isolated little bubbles, glass houses of individualism. Rather they are intertwined far more closely than we might assume. No matter who you are or where you work, your life has an influence on others.

When you begin to understand how important God views your menial tasks, you begin to lift your eyes above the commonplace and routine and realize that you are a part of God’s great work. He strengthens you and makes you realize that, in His eyes, the office boy is just as important as the president. This kind of faith glorifies the small task. Remember, when you do it as unto the Lord, there is no small task. Whatever your task, work heartily as serving the Lord and not men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive your reward.

Resource reading: Colossians 3