How To Bless Other People Through Your Work (Proverbs 31) (Video)

You can bless many people through your work. Proverbs 31 shows how.

In this chapter, the valiant woman blesses her family, her coworkers, her customers, and her community. All by doing her work well.

1) How to bless your family through your work

The woman of Proverbs 31 takes care of her family in multiple ways. She works directly to meet their needs, including basic needs for food and clothing. Proverbs 31:15 says, “She rises while it is still night and provides food for her household.” And 31:13 says, “She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands.”

You meet your family’s needs through your own manual labor, whether it’s cooking, laundry, or home repair.

The woman of Proverbs 31 also provides for her family through her work outside of the home, “She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.” Says Provers 31:18, and 31:16 says “She considers a field and buys it.”

If you work to earn an income, you too bless your family in a biblical way.

2) How to bless your coworkers through your work

In the Ancient Near East, people worked together in an economic unit called “the household,” typically made up of extended family, servants and hired workers who lived together. The household could include domestic workers: cooks, cleaners and caregivers, artisans such as weavers, carpenters, and metal craftsmen, and laborers such as farmers and shepherds. So Proverbs 31:15 refers to many employees when it says “She rises while it is still night and provides food for her household and tasks for her servant-girls.” (Proverbs 31:15). As the manager of the household, the woman is much like a modern-day entrepreneur or executive. And she blesses many people when she manages well.

Through your own diligent work, you bless everyone who works with you. That includes coworkers, people working under you, and people whose economic wellbeing is tied to the success of your enterprise.

3) How to bless your customers through your work

Proverbs 31:24 says that the woman “supplies the merchant with sashes.” And Proverbs 31:18 says, “She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.” She makes a quality product that people are willing to pay for.

When you do quality work, your customers are blessed by it. In return, you are likely to earn a profit, like the woman of proverbs 31 whose reward is “a share in the fruit of her hands” (Proverbs 31:31).

4) How to bless your community through your work

Because her work is profitable, the valiant woman is able to be generous. Proverbs 31:20 says “She opens her hand to the poor, and reaches out her hands to the needy.”

She is also generous with her time. She mentors others and passes down what she’s learned through her work. Proverbs 31:26 says, “She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.”

You can bless your community by giving your time, resources, and wisdom to those around you.

According to Proverbs 31, your daily work is the starting point for blessing others.