John Scully was a very successful executive in PepsiCo. He was the genius behind the Pepsi Challenge which cut into the market share of Coke. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were on the cutting edge of the personal computer boom. Steve Jobs was attempting to recruit Scully to come to Apple. They were sitting on a balcony overlooking New York’s Central Park when Jobs turned to Scully and said, “Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life or come with me and change the world”? Scully remarked later that Job’s question landed like “a punch to the gut”. A chance to change the world and make a difference is what it took to lure him to join Apple.
Another person in the Bible was recruited to leave the work he was doing and join someone else for an important meeting. Nehemiah was busy building the wall and was asked by Sanballat and Geshem to leave the work and join them on the plain of Ono. Nehemiah saw through their scheme and knew they intended to harm him if he left the work on the wall. Nehemiah sent a decisive message to them in Nehemiah 6:3:"…I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you"? Nehemiah considered this God-inspired project to be a great work and would not allow anything to cause him to leave it. They continued to recruit him four times but Nehemiah refused.
There are no little jobs when it comes to serving our great God. If God has called you to serve Him you are doing a great work. We may work for our Lord in small ways and in small fields. Or we can serve Him in large venues that minister to many people. However, wherever and whatever field of service where we labor can be called a great work. Selling sugar water may be more lucrative, or cause us more recognition by the world. Yet, getting out the gospel is the great work that can change the world.