My Work Is a Hot Mess

You've probably heard the phrase "hot mess." Most of the time we use it to describe a particularly disorganized person or a chaotic situation. But it has another, more specific meaning too: a hot mess can be someone who looks like they've got it all together but is really just barely holding it together.

We all know a hot mess or two. Most of us have lived through situations you could only describe that way. And if we're being honest, sometimes we're the hot mess. We may look fine on the outside right now, but it's a facade - we're holding it together for an hour or two, and by the time we're halfway home, the bloom is off the rose. Whatever you do, don't follow us home, because you'll see how much of a hot mess we really are.

Here's the good news, though: Jesus loves hot messes. Read the Gospels and look at who He chose to spend time with. And there's a part two to that good news: God can use hot messes. A hot mess isn't necessarily irredeemable. Think of that restaurant we all have a favorite version of - the one that would never pass a Gordon Ramsay inspection, but somehow puts out some of the best food you've ever had. Whatever you do, don't look in the kitchen. It's a hot mess back there. And yet, good things come out of it.

Over this series we'll look at different areas of life that can become hot messes - and how God works in, through, and despite the mess. This week, the topic is one a lot of us know well: my work is a hot mess.

First, what do we mean by "work"?

When we say "work," most of us immediately think of a nine-to-five job. But that's not all of it. There's a lot of work our society doesn't instantly label as work.

Any stay-at-home parent can tell you that raising a child is a full-time job - keeping a child fed and alive and teaching them to become a functioning member of society takes an enormous amount of work. Running and maintaining a household, whether or not there are children in it, is work. Caring for an ailing family member is work. And not all work is paid; some of it is volunteer.

So throughout this series, treat "work" as an all-encompassing term, and apply it to your own life and situation as you see fit.

The very first thing we see God do

Did you know that the first time Scripture introduces us to God, He's working?

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." - Genesis 1:1

Creating is a form of work, isn't it? And throughout the creation account, God keeps working.

A few verses later, we read that God created human beings in His own image (Genesis 1:27). The implication we find all through Scripture is that we're meant to emulate God and Jesus in thought and action, word and deed. The closer we come to doing what God does, the closer we come to living out His nature - and to fulfilling the purpose and potential He has for our lives.

So if we want to emulate God, then work - at least in some capacity - is part of how we do it. And right after creating people, the very first instruction God gives them is:

"Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it…" - Genesis 1:28

Fill the earth, and all those people are going to need somewhere to live - that sounds like building, which sounds like work. Govern it - that requires administration and organization, which also sounds like work.

This isn't a "get off the couch, you lazy slacker" message. It's something gentler and bigger than that. We say it around here all the time: God is good all the time. If the first thing we see God do is work, and God is good and incapable of evil (Isaiah 6:3; Psalm 5:4; 1 John 1:5), then the command He gives the first humans to work must be a good command, given for our good. By the end of the chapter, God looks over everything He has made - the results of His work - and declares it very good (Genesis 1:31).

So why does work so often feel like a curse?

If work is so good, how did we land on phrases like "work is a chore," "work is a necessary evil," and "work sucks but I need the bucks"? Some people even believe work itself is a curse, and think that idea comes from the Bible. It doesn't - it comes from a misreading of the end of the Eden story.

After Adam and Eve sin, God says:

"…the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it… By the sweat of your brow you will have food to eat…" - Genesis 3:17-19

Read it carefully. It wasn't work that was cursed - it was the ground. Work got harder, but work was still good. God worked. God called humans to work. When sin entered the world, it corrupted good things and made them harder - and it still does today. But sin is the curse. Work is a blessing.

Having the opportunity to create, to produce, to contribute is a blessing in itself. Even the physical and mental ability to work is a blessing - something you really feel once it's taken away.

If you've ever been laid up by illness or injury, you know what I mean. After a stretch on the couch, you start begging to work again. We tell ourselves it's easier now because we have phones and the internet, but you can only scroll for so long before you've seen everything twice and you're spinning the dopamine roulette wheel hoping somebody posts something new. The act of lifting a box or pushing a shovel into a pile of dirt, after not being able to, has a way of reminding you that the ability to work is a gift.

The author of Ecclesiastes - traditionally believed to be Solomon - put it this way: there's nothing better for a person than to enjoy the good in their labor, because that, too, is from the hand of God (Ecclesiastes 2:24).

Shift #1: Separate the purpose from the process

So how do we find the good in our labor, especially when it's a hot mess? We need a shift in perspective. And the first shift is this: separate the purpose from the process.

Ask yourself why you work. To get paid. Fine - to do what? To pay bills, to meet basic needs. Okay - so do we just live to exist, to get by day to day? And once your needs are met and you keep working to buy more things - is that the purpose of life, to consume until you die? Why work to be successful - so you can be promoted, make more money, and buy still more things? You can play the home version of this game and watch how quickly it spirals into the kind of hollow, ecclesiastical futility that probably led to Ecclesiastes being written in the first place.

If there's no purpose beyond ourselves and beyond the work itself, we'll never find the good in the labor. But what if we had a higher purpose?

Here at Seacoast, our mission is clear: helping people find and follow Jesus Christ. Our motto is love God, love people. That's the purpose. The day-to-day - the organizing, the administering, the trying to meet everyone's needs, stated and unstated - that's the process. And, fittingly, a lot rhymes with "hot mess," because the process of loving God and loving people can get real messy. If I only focus on the process, all I'll ever see is the hot mess. But as long as the process is still serving the purpose, there's good in the labor - if I'm looking for it.

Your job can be Kingdom work too

You may not work for a church, but Kingdom work can still intertwine with your career, your part-time job, your volunteering, your parenting - whatever your work is. Your company's mission might be to make the best widget in the nation. But if your personal mission, in the middle of that work, is helping people find and follow Jesus, that changes everything.

"Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people." - Colossians 3:23

You might think, It's hard to lead someone to the Lord while I'm making their latte. Maybe so - but don't compartmentalize. You don't have to preach a sermon at the register to witness through the way you live and treat people.

No matter where you work, if you do your job well, you're contributing to human flourishing - producing goods and services people need, helping sustain a stable economy, and brightening individual people's days through your attitude and care. You bless more people than you know. If you hand me a hot dog through the drive-through window after a long day, as far as I'm concerned, you're contributing to my well-being. Love God, love people, serve hot dogs.

And here's the part we often miss: think beyond the here and now. Imagine being so kind and diligent at work that one day a customer runs into you at the grocery store and asks why you're always so attentive and generous - and you get to say, because that's how I think Jesus would want me to be; I see my job as part of loving my neighbor. Where might that lead? Maybe you're not there to reach the customers at all. Maybe God placed you there for the hot-mess coworker you see outside of company hours - someone who needs to experience His love, and God sent you to show it.

When you see your work as a higher calling, it gives you more patience for the mess - the chaotic days, the difficult coworkers, the moments things go off the rails.

Be fruitful: partner in what God is producing

Separating the purpose from the process frees us to be fruitful - one of the very things God told the first humans to do. (And yes, that's why we call it produce.)

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." - Romans 8:28

There's a higher purpose to whatever work you're called to, no matter how mundane, boring, frustrating, or messy it gets. We're called to be ambassadors of Christ in all circumstances. All work - paid or unpaid - is Kingdom work, and when we treat it that way, we become partners in what God is producing through us.

Maybe this is exactly what you needed to hear today. Maybe you're a working parent juggling everyone's schedules and navigating hot-mess personalities and chaotic situations daily, trying not to let it show while you're barely holding on. Here's a thought: maybe today is the day you stop trying to hold it all together - and instead ask God to hold things together. Ask Him to show you what He's doing and where He's working. Ask Him for His perspective on your work.

God is working in the middle of your hot mess. He's working through the long hours nobody seems to notice, in your children's lives even when you can't see it, even when you don't understand why and don't feel appreciated. You have a purpose. Trust what God will produce, partner with Him in His work, and see what He can do.

Because when Jesus says He wants us to have abundant life, I don't think He meant just on the weekends, or just on vacation, or just when we're off the clock. I believe He wants us to have abundant life at work, too.

The greater gift

Abundant life is only part of what Jesus offers. He also offers eternal life - life forever with Him. We were separated from God by our sins, but Jesus paid the price for all of them when He took them on Himself and gave His life on the cross. As the perfect, sinless sacrifice, He made a way for us:

"For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him." - John 3:16-17

Three days after He gave His life, Jesus rose from the grave. He conquered death, and proved His authority over it - so when He offers us eternal and abundant life, we know He can back it up.

If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life and you'd like to do that today, you can pray a prayer like this one:

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. I know I've done wrong things. Please forgive me of my sins. Right now I ask You to be the Lord of my life. Help me to turn from my sins and follow You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins, for rising again on the third day and taking those sins away, for saving me, and for preparing a place for me. Amen.

If you prayed that prayer, we believe it's the best decision you'll ever make - and we'd love to help you take your next steps. If you have questions or want to get connected, reach out to us or come find us after a service.

Next week we'll continue with part two of "My Work Is a Hot Mess," where we'll look at some of the things we do that add to the mess - and what Jesus would have us do instead.

Until then, may God give you the wisdom, integrity, diligence, joy, love, and understanding to sustain you through the difficulties you face in your work - and may you work with all your heart, as if working for the Lord.