If nobody saw your work today, would you still give it your best? Because when you know who you're really working for. Everything changes. You're not just leading a team, you're honoring the one who gave you that opportunity in the first place. This is Leading 10. I'm Chris Moore, and today we're talking about what it means to lead and labor as unto the Lord. Colossians chapter three, verses 23 through 24 says, and whatsoever ye do do it hardly as to the Lord and not unto men. Knowing that of the Lord, you shall receive the reward of the inheritance if he serve the Lord Christ. Paul wasn't writing this verse to pastors or even full-time missionaries. He was writing to everyday believers, people with jobs, with families, with bosses, with responsibilities, with disappointments, with struggles, with everything that we have today. And he reminds them, whatever you do, do it for the Lord. Because when you shift your mindset from the earthly employers to your eternal assignment. Everything you do should change. It's easy for us to lose motivation when no one's watching. When you feel that you're overlooked, underpaid, or underappreciated, I've been there, but here's the mindset shift that every leader needs to make. You are not just working a job. You're worshiping through work, your emails, your meetings, your customer service, even how you show up when you're tired. It's all sacred when it's surrendered through God. So what does this say about us? Well, we often let people define our pace, our passion, even our purpose in life. If people are around us and they applaud us, we work harder If they don't notice us. We start to slack off. If things go wrong, we may lose heart and become discouraged. But when you work for the Lord, your consistency is no longer tied to how the people around you treat you. It's tied to how God has called you and how he views you. And what does this say about God? Well, it shows he's not just watching what you do. He's rewarding how you do it, how we go about our work. God sees your excellence. God sees whether you are giving your best or not, even when no one else does. He honors your integrity in that even when no one else applauds it. He knows when you're struggling. He knows when you're giving it your all. He knows when you're giving it the best you can, even when maybe you look at it and feel that it's not so excellent. Because he's not just your savior, he's your supervisor. He's the best one that you're ever gonna have throughout your day. If you'll just ask him to help. God is watching how you lead, and he's not doing this to judge us. He's not doing it to condemn us. He's doing it because he wants to see when he can reward us as he helps us accomplish our best. He sees how we treat a difficult client. He sees how you respond when you're unfairly criticized. He sees how you give your best even when you're not getting credit. He knows we need to live like he knows because he promises that we will receive a reward. Not just a paycheck, but an internal inheritance. If we will live and represent him the way that we should. That's why we should lead with excellence. That's why we should show up with heart, not just in mind. And that's why we should stay faithful no matter what the season in the good and the bad and the disappointing. So what's the leadership application for us? Well, we should always lead and serve with excellence. That level of excellence, let's be honest, is different in different seasons of our own lives, but we have to realize that we need to do the best we can because real rewards don't even come here. They come from God. They come from peace of mind. They come from us knowing that we don't cut corners when no one's watching, that we don't change our attitude depending on who's in the room at the time. We don't let bitterness rob us of our joy, even our joy of work. And we shouldn't work for that recognition. And that's so countercultural to today. But we should work from conviction that we are called to do what we're doing in the time that we're doing it.'cause when you know who you're working for, you should act differently. You should show up early. You should definitely stay humble, and you should always give your best. Whatever your best is. Not to impress, but to honor the one who gave you the opportunity. To do so in the first place. So here's a few ways we can work. As unto the Lord this week. Pray before your first task the day. How many times in these devotions have we started with prayer? But that's where it starts. That's where Jesus started in his earthly ministry. It seems like before every great event, there is a time of prayer. We need to talk to our father above. We need to offer everything that we do as an act of worship for him. We should choose integrity even when it costs us something, and we should ask God to give us joy. Even in the mundane, even in the things that we hate to do, even the things that we're discouraged about. We should look and ask for joy. And in return, we should also encourage a teammate, not just because you have to, not because you should, but because maybe you are that emissary from God that gives them the joy that you're looking for. And in so doing, you will find yours. Because it always honors God. It's not about being perfect in everything. We never will be. You can strive for it, but you're never gonna get there. But what we're supposed to do is be purposeful. Be purposeful in how we act in the deeds that we do throughout the day, even in our work, even when it's tough. You know, I've worked in all sorts of seasons. Seasons where I was praised seasons, where I was hated seasons, where I was just invisible seeming like I was standing in a room by myself, shouting at just an echo. And I've learned that peace does not come from applause. Peace does not come from the people around you. Peace comes from inside. It comes from being obedient to what God would have us to do, working as if he's standing right there beside us because he is. When you know you've led with all that you have with integrity, when you've shown up and brought the most excellence that you can. You can rest easy. Your head can hit the pillow at night and you can know you have done what you could do because you've honored the Lord. And that's what counts. So here's your challenge for today. Choose one task. Just one task, and give it your full attention. Give it as an offering to God. And it could be something simple it might be answering emails, leading a meeting in person or even on Zoom or just cleaning up at the end. Of a long day. Do it with heart. Don't do it halfway. Don't be distracted thinking about something else. Focus on what you are doing as unto the Lord. Do it with joy. Do it as worship. Do it as if the Lord is standing there with you because he is. And remember this, your work does matter. You may not think it does, but it does. And it's not just big stuff. It's not just thinking about those big jobs or things. Every little thing matters. All of it. When you lead with this mindset, when you work with this mindset, when you live with this fault, you won't burn out trying to get recognized because you've already been seen, you're already valued. You are valued by the one. It really matters, and your reward is secure in the hands of the God that you serve. This is leading 10. I'm Chris Moore. It's time for us to go lead with excellence, not because people are watching, because God is always is. Hopefully this helps shift your perspective a little bit. Uh, these things always do me, if you liked it, tap the like button, subscribe so you get more. Honestly, I do these for me, not for a lot of, uh, people. This isn't about, growing my YouTube channel or growing a podcast. It really is just to kind of help me stay on task. And faithful exactly what I talk about in today's episode. So share this message, share the video, but share the message with someone else who you see, who feels unseen and remind them, God sees what they're doing, that he's doing it for them, doing it as unto them. He is very, very pleased, and I'll see you next time.