Many of us who work in the marketplace, whether young or old, or soon to be entering, might ask ourselves this question: “How exactly do I bring my faith into the marketplace?”

Actually, what we are really asking is: “God, how do I bring You into my place of work?”

How do I bring God into the marketplace? How do I bring the truth of God, the ways of God, the things of God into a place that seems to operate in a way that is totally different?”

For most of us, that question plagues us to the point where it ends up leaving us in a place of struggle, in a place of battling, maybe even wondering, “God, are you here at all? Is it possible to even bring You into this place?”

And we end up surviving, rather than thriving.

Recently, I was reflecting on this question myself being a marketplace minister, so to speak. A professional in the marketplace spending almost all of my time at work.

God pointed my attention to Matthew 4:18-20.

“As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ^‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘And I will send you out to fish for people.’ At once they left their nets and followed him.” (Matthew 4:18-20)

As I was reading this passage, God showed me in such a clear way, even in the first verse where it talks about Jesus walking along the Sea of Galilee, that sometimes it’s not so much about bringing God to our places of work, to the marketplace, because what this passage tells us, is that Jesus is already right there.

It is perhaps less about us bringing Him there, and more a matter of finding and discovering Him. 

Jesus was walking along the Sea of Galilee – Simon and Andrew’s place of work. Jesus is walking in our corridors, in our streets, in our offices, in our meeting rooms. He is there.

He is already there, way ahead of us. He has already surveyed the ground, considered the work that needs to be done and what He has in mind to conduct or accomplish in those spaces. And He is looking for people to partner Him in this endeavour. Jesus is in every sense, at work, present in that place and doing something good.

If so, it is perhaps less about us bringing Him there, and more a matter of finding and discovering Him, listening to what exactly He is saying to us, and figuring out how He is already at work.

In the passage, the first disciples eventually discover what was always on Jesus’s heart – not fishing per se – but the fishing of man and drawing them unto Him.

And on finally realising that, the disciples laid their tools down (“cast their nets”) and followed Him by surrendering to His will, and what He had in mind.

Is it the same for us? Are we more focused on asking God to bless what we are doing (Fill our fishing nets, God!) – or are we doing the work that He is already blessing?

Helpful as the question, “God, how do I bring You to work?” may be, I believe that we could be asking an even better one – a question that helps posture our hearts and frame our minds. Let’s ask Him how He is already at work there, and how He is inviting us to partner with Him.