Work As Worship

September 29, 2025 by Erin Long

Can I be honest with you? I really love my job. (And I’m not saying that just because my boss reads these blog posts!) I love feeling needed and valued on a team. I love the local church and the community we’ve built at City Church. I love making a difference in people’s lives. I love praying over people and celebrating when God does miracles, and I’m in a unique position where I get paid to do those things. So yesterday when Pastor Joey talked about God’s design for work, I felt the Holy Spirit convict me of an area in my life I didn’t even realize was an idol.

Joey said most people fall into one of three categories: either we withdraw from work, waste work, or we worship our work. As someone who loves what I do, I easily fall into the third group of people. And that’s where it gets tricky- because worshipping work doesn’t always look bad from the outside. It often looks like diligence, passion, or dedication. But deep down, I know when I’m looking to my job for identity, security, or approval instead of to God.

That’s why Joey’s words hit me so hard: “Work is a gift, but it makes a terrible God.” Work is good. It’s part of God’s design from the very beginning. But when I make it the source of my worth, I end up drained, restless, and chasing after something it was never meant to give me.

I needed the reminder that work is meant to be worship. Not worship of work, but worship through work. There’s a big difference. When I approach my job as worship, I’m offering my best to God, not trying to squeeze my identity out of what I accomplish.

Joey closed with this challenge: “I want you to view work as worship without worshipping your work.” For me, that looks like holding my work with open hands… loving it, yes, but loving God more. It looks like doing my job with excellence, while remembering that my true value was settled at the cross, not in my performance review.

So today, I’m asking the Lord to re-center my heart. To help me receive my job as a gift, not a god. And to teach me how to glorify Him not just in what I do on Sunday mornings, but in the way I answer emails, lead volunteers, and serve the church family He’s placed in my path every day.

Because when work is in its right place, it becomes what it was always meant to be: an offering of worship to the One who is worthy of it all.

This post is inspired by Joey Cook's sermon on 9/28/2025

Watch It Here

A few questions to reflect on this week:

1. When you consider your relationship with work, do you find yourself in any of these three categories: withdrawing from work, wasting work, or worshipping work?

2. How do you know when your identity is starting to come more from your work than from Christ? What are the warning signs for you?

3. Think about your daily rhythms at work (emails, meetings, projects, conversations). What would it look like to invite God into those ordinary moments?