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Question:
How to draw a distinction between the work that I am doing at my workplace and that is paid and the service that I am doing to God and that I want it to be pleasing to Him?
Use your profession to spread the Gospel
Apostle Paul made a huge ministry in the Gospel, but he also knew the profession of making tents. Often this job or profession helped him to be able to gain the necessary resources to support him and those who were working together in the team. Thus, when he was sent by the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel in Corinth, the Bible tells us the following about Paul:
And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working, for by trade they were tent-makers. And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. (Acts 18:2-5)(NASB)
After Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul was able to devote all his time to preach and teach people, for Silas and Timothy brought Paul a financial support, which was sent by the churches from Macedonia who used to help him and the Apostle thanked them in the Epistle to the Philippians:
You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. (Philippians 4:15-16)(NASB)
Do not use religion for enrichment
While Paul was in Ephesus, the Word was spread with great power:
Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing. (Acts 19:18-20)(NASB)
Do you realize how much was affected the business of those who were writing and copying magic books? The craft of those who were producing idols or items used in worship idols was affected to the point that they started an uprising, about which the Bible says so:
About that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing no little business to the craftsmen; these he gathered together with the workmen of similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that our prosperity depends upon this business. You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that gods made with hands are no gods at all. Not only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis be regarded as worthless and that she whom all of Asia and the world worship will even be dethroned from her magnificence.” (Acts 19: 23-27)(NASB)
Demetrius took advantage of the religious system of Ephesus and made it a profitable opportunity to get rich. This is what disturbed him the most and made him start the uprising instead receive the Gospel message to be saved.
It is true that every minister of the Gospel needs a material support necessary for his needs and his family, but it is not acceptable that someone makes out of religion a cause of material enrichment. The same thing applies to any other profession, which is necessary for the ministry of the Gospel. Participation in advance of the Gospel is a call from God and not a job.
Help your minitsers in the Gospel
In the Epistle to the Galatians it is written:
The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him. (Galatians 6:6)(NASB)
If you master a craft or a profession, if you have a business it is right and beautiful to share with those who teach you the Word of God the services that you offer people or your goods. In this way, you will support their ministry and the advance of the Gospel because that is ordained by God:
So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel. (1 Corinthians 9:14)(NASB)
For a better understanding of this topic, I recommend readers to study the inductive Bible study courses on the books of 2 Thessalonians and “Marriage without regrets” that extensively address this issue.
Translated by Felicia Rotaru