Day 17: Together for the Marketplace

Every morning, millions of people in Singapore leave their homes and head out to different places. The office, the school, the business meeting, the coffeeshop. We call it “going to work.” But what if God calls it something different? What if He calls it being sent?

Luke 14:23, “And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.‘”

In the parable of the Great Banquet, when the invited guests made excuses to stay away, the master didn’t close the doors.

He sent his servant out, beyond what was familiar and comfortable, to the roads and the lanes, to where ordinary life happens. And that is the marketplace – the roads and lanes of Singapore.

We sometimes live with an invisible dividing line: Sacred on one side, secular on the other. Church on a Sunday, work on a Monday. But Scripture refuses this divide.

Will you go and bring the fragrance of Christ to your marketplace?

In Exodus 31, God fills a man named Bezalel with His Spirit for craftsmanship – for building, designing, making. The Spirit of God, resting on a man at work with his hands. God was never absent from the workshop.

In Colossians 3:23, Paul writes: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.” Not just in ministry, not just in prayer – in whatever you do.

The marketplace – your school, your office, your business, your hospital ward, your hawker centre – is not where you go before ministry begins. It is where your ministry is.

But look at why the servant is sent: The master says “that my house may be filled.” That is the vision – a full house. No one is left out, no empty seats.

That is not a solo vision, that is a together vision. And it takes all of us, going out to every road, every lane, and every corner of this city, to make it happen.

This week, as you head to work, say this simple prayer: “Lord, I am not just going to work. I am being sent.”

Singapore’s marketplace is one of the most strategic mission fields in Asia. Millions pass through our business districts, industrial estates and digital economy every single day. Many of them have never stepped into a church. But they work beside us, they sit across from us at meeting tables. They are the highways and the byways.

And God is asking: Will you go? Not just as individuals, but together as a Church that brings the fragrance of Christ to every sector.

Will you go and bring the fragrance of Christ to your marketplace?

What does that look like?

It looks like integrity that makes your colleagues ask questions.

It looks like generosity that doesn’t make business sense.

It looks like peace that holds even through a difficult season.

It looks like prayer before a business pitch, and grace after a deal falls through.

It looks like the Kingdom of God becoming visible in the most ordinary moments of a workday.

This week, as you head to work, say this simple prayer: “Lord, I am not just going to work. I am being sent.”

Let’s pray together.

Lord, forgive us for leaving You at our church door. Today, we recommit our work to You: Our laptops, our tools, our conversations and our decisions.

Send us out together to the roads and lanes of Singapore’s marketplace. Make us carriers of Your Kingdom in every sector, every industry, every floor of every building in this city. Fill our work spaces with Your presence. Transform and win Singapore, one Monday morning at a time.

In Jesus’ name, Amen!