working hard or hardly working?

The best job I ever held was as a waitress at a Chinese buffet. I worked there for five years, from my junior year in high school to after I graduated college. I had amazing employers and fun co-workers, some of which I still see and hang out with on a regular basis. I got to dine on Chinese food FOR FREE when I was working. This means, as a college kid, I ate Chinese food every weekend for four straight years. I loved it.

photo credit.

I also enjoyed waiting on the customers that would come in on the weekends. I began to know them as friends and even knew what most of them wanted to drink without even having to ask. One of the most common phrases said to waitresses, however is the classic saying:

"Are you working hard, or hardly working?"

I would just laugh as if it was the first time I had ever heard it, grab their Mountain Dew and Diet Coke, and seat them with a smile.

I still think about that job from time to time, and that cliche that was asked of me so often. In talking with a friend this week, we both were sharing the need to be reminded that we are working for the Lord, not man:

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men. (Colossians 3:23) (see also Ephesians 6:7)

Whatever you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to Him through God the Father. (Colossians 3:17)

And He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

So that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:5)

We have this sick way of thinking in American culture that the "better" job that you have, the better person you are. When we first married, Brandon worked at a gas station, and I worked at a daycare. It does not matter if you are a neurosurgeon, a Naval officer, a cop, a waitress at a Chinese buffet. It does not matter if you are a lawyer, a construction worker, a dentist, a public official. Or a stay at home mother.

We are ALL working for the same Person. So, are YOU working hard for Him, or are you hardly working?