It’s Martin Luther King Day, and it’s a good time to reflect on what he said about work:

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michaelangelo painted pictures, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, “Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.” – Martin Luther King, Jr., New Covenant Baptist Church, Chicago, IL, April 9, 1967. (You can hear it here – just the first 30 seconds)

I’ve been reading about Joseph in Genesis chapters 39 and 40: in whatever place he found himself, even a slave and a prisoner, he did his work well. It’s worth thinking about.

The LORD was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. (Genesis 39.2 – 5, NIV)

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. (Colossians 3.23, 24, NIV)