Throughout my life I have heard a similar piece of repeated advice. “Find a job you love and it will never feel like work.” There are several variations on this statement but all of them imply that there are certain types of work that are always a joy. Maybe the deeper implication is that if your job is not full of joy then you should find something else to do.

Well, I am here to say that I really like my job. What I do usually brings me joy and a sense of fulfillment. I mean I get to work for God through the Church. BUT – Even I have days when I don’t want to work. There are days I don’t want to go to the office and read more. I get tired of using my brain and just want to sit quietly and watch TV. There are days I want to skip Church. Sometimes I even get weary from preaching and teaching. Honestly, there are days I do not enjoy doing my job.

I am often reminded of the boy scout who asked another pack member, “Do you ever have days when you feel just a little untrustworthy, disloyal, unhelpful, unfriendly, discourteous, unkind, grumpy, wasteful, cowardly, dirty, and irreverent?”

What do you do when you have days like that?

I will tell you what I do. I get up and go to work. I sit down with my Bible and I read. I open up the computer and I start typing. I get up and go to Church. I start preaching and see where it goes. I continue working even when it is not a joy.

I think that if we are honest, all of us have days when we don’t feel like doing the right thing. We all have days when serving feels like work. We all have days we want to just quit life and rejoin the human race later when we feel better.

The difference between people who make it work in life and those who fail is usually simple. To make it work, whatever it is – your job, your marriage, your parenting, your faith, anything – you have to just keep getting up and doing the right thing. Even when you don’t feel like it.