Whatsoever ye do, labour at it heartily, as [doing it] to the Lord, and not to men;
Paul closes his letter to the Colossians with instructions for ordinary life — wives, husbands, children, fathers, and then working people who owned nothing and took orders all day. This verse asks a question every worker still faces: who am I really working for, and does that change how I work?
Written first to slaves
The first readers were slaves. That setting is what makes the command so striking.
"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men" (Col. 3:23). Paul wrote these words to people who were slaves. A slave's life could be hard, depending on what the master was like. Either way, Paul urged them to work heartily. They had an earthly master, but they were to look up to their Master in heaven. They were to please Him. Paul puts a remarkable dignity on these slaves when he writes, "you are serving the Lord Christ." Slavery as Paul knew it may no longer exist. But the Christian employee still owes the same hearty service, as to the Lord.
Heartily, not merely correctly
The word "heartily" rules out work that is correct but has no heart in it.
But do not be so taken up with serving an earthly master. Remember, "you are serving the Lord Christ." This will make you all the more willing to obey your earthly master. You will do whatever you do heartily — not just because it is right, but with your heart in it.
The opposite of hearty work is not bad work. It is grudging work. And the verse reaches past the slaves it first addressed.
Verse 23, though addressed especially to slaves, may be taken to heart by every believer. What a difference it makes to our whole life if we do everything heartily to the Lord, and not grudgingly or unwillingly!
The cure for working only when watched
The verse before this one warns against "eye-service" — working for the boss's glance. Where the eye rests decides everything.
"Not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers." The eye is not to be on the face of the master. If it is, the temptation will be to please him, and so to become a man-pleaser. The smallest duty loses its value before God if we do it for men instead of for Him.
What replaces that habit is not tighter supervision but a larger audience.
What then is given as a safeguard against this people-pleasing eye-service? The uplifting thought that we serve the Lord Christ. Our work is for the eye of the Lord in heaven, not only for the eye of the master on earth. Even the dull, hard work of the lowest slave should still be done for the Lord of all.
Ordinary tasks made worth doing
If the Lord receives the work, then the smallest job carries weight.
What a happy thing it is to know that our God stoops to link His name and His glory with the humblest duties of ordinary daily life! This gives dignity, interest and freshness to every little act, from morning till night. "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men." Here lies the precious secret of the whole matter. It is not working for wages, but serving the Lord Christ, and looking to Him to receive the reward of the inheritance.
That principle lands on the most unremarkable parts of a working day.
How it brightens and beautifies the daily round of duty to be looking for the approval of Christ! Think what a difference it makes to writing up a ledger, planing a stubborn plank, or learning a hard verb. Our loving, patient Lord stands at our elbow to notice our efforts and reward our hard work.
Freedom from a hard boss
Working "as for the Lord" settles the question of the difficult employer. The standard no longer comes from him.
So the Lord puts servants in His own presence. They are the servants of Christ. They are to do the will of God from the heart, and to fix their eye on the Lord alone. Remembering this is the secret of all happy, cheerful service and of all true obedience. It also sets them free from what their masters are like.
Wages from the right hand
The next verse names a reward the earthly master may never give.
Service of any kind is only done as it deserves to be done for the Lord when the eye looks on to the end of the path. The Lord Christ pays good wages. He even pays a bonus at the end of the path of service — the reward of the inheritance.
Summary
- Whoever. Paul wrote first to slaves with nothing to gain. So no job is too small or too thankless for this verse.
- Whatever. "Whatever you do" leaves nothing outside — the ledger, the plank, the hard verb — so ordinary duties become the place where God's name is honoured.
- Heartily. The command is not just to do right work, but to do it with the heart. Grudging service fails the verse even when the job is done well.
- For the Lord. Working for men breeds eye-service and robs even a small duty of its value. Working for Christ frees you from the sort of master you happen to have.
- Rewarded. The earthly employer may never say thank you, but the Lord Christ pays in full — the reward of the inheritance.