God's To Do List: The Holy Ordinary

Where the ordinary becomes worship

"I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied.”

Ecclesiastes 3:10

God’s to-do list for us is not always grand or dramatic. Often, it looks like faithfulness in the ordinary: showing kindness, serving others, stewarding what we have, and doing every small thing as if it were a gift back to Him. When our hearts shift, our daily lives become worship.

What Tasks Has God Given Us?

Work occupies a considerable amount of our time, energy, thought, life, and emotional well-being.

God’s to-do list invites us to honour Him through simple, faithful living.

In some Bible versions, the phrase "God-given task" used here in Ecclesiastes is translated as "burden." This makes me laugh because it is an honest and accurate definition.

Burdens are weighty and exhausting to carry for a long time. The word "inyan," meaning task, encompasses work, occupation, business, employment, and travail. These are all exhausting!

Travail is painful and arduous. It reminds me of being in labour and enduring high levels of physical and emotional stress. There is no way out except to push through.

A burden, according to the dictionary, is defined as something that is carried. It's usually heavy, but it is also a God-given responsibility. It carries weight because it matters, and what you are holding right now is part of a greater purpose.

What Burdens are You Carrying?

"Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” 

(Matthew 11:28-30)

Turning daily work and burdens into a shared relationship with Him.

Jesus addresses burdens with compassion. The invitation is to learn gently with Him out of rest.

The Greek word for burden is "phortíon." When I checked the definition, it described a load that the individual must carry. It is personal. You can't transfer or shift it to someone else.

These are the responsibilities that you have to carry, but it doesn't have to be alone.

The yoke represents a shared burden because animals carried the weight together. The weight that overwhelms can be transferred to Him.

Instead of the overwhelm and heaviness, we are invited into a yoke relationship. God walks beside us in a shared journey of carrying and moving forward. The shared weight becomes worship.

The small everyday things are opportunities to love God and serve Him faithfully.

The Challenge to Work from Gratitude

“Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (Colossians 3:17)

There is a requirement here to be wholehearted and thankful in whatever we do. There is a divine connection and interaction with God in the mundane and everyday.

Gratitude transforms ordinary tasks into sacred offerings.

Glory Opportunities: The Holy Ordinary

This is the HOLY ORDINARY! - Loving and serving God through simple faithfulness.

"Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

(1 Corinthians 10:31)

Here, "glory" is "doxa," meaning honour, splendour, and majesty.

Glory shows up in the bathroom scrubbing. Majesty fills the ordinary unexpectedly.

There are three clear actions:

• Do everything in His name.

• Do it with thanksgiving.

• Do it to glorify Him.

This application should immediately shift how we view our chores, tasks, and our grudging responses to today's to-do lists! I just completed our ministry book keeping - it is a boring task with the wrong attitude. This morning I tried to focus on it as an offering; my "Holy Ordinary."

The mundane becomes meaningful when done for Him.

Sometimes the most powerful worship doesn’t happen on a stage or in a church - it unfolds in the quiet corners of our everyday lives.

The small tasks, the unseen responsibilities, the routines we rush through with obligation and complaint, can become sacred offerings when we choose to offer them with gratitude and intention.

• Homework gives God honour.

• Laundry is our praise.

• Zoom meetings invite His presence.

• Traffic jams are glory-filled.

There is majesty in every part of every day when we overhaul our perspective and heart orientation.

This is how the burden becomes lighter. The transformation is in relationship.

Glory reappears, connected to our actions, redirection, and intentions.

Invite God into the everyday. His presence is waiting for you!

Reflection Questions

• Do I believe that my everyday tasks—no matter how small—carry purpose in God’s eyes?

  
  

• How might my attitude toward work change if I viewed each responsibility as an act of worship?

  
  

• What does it look like for me to invite God into the routine parts of my day—my work, my chores, my conversations?

  
  

• What small, faithful action can I take today that turns an ordinary task into an offering of worship?

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